Network operating system

ABSTRACT

Generally described, the present invention is directed to a network operating system that provides more effective ways of leveraging the connectivity of computer networks. In one embodiment, an XML virtual machine is implemented that accepts high-level application code written in an XML programming language as input. Functionality is provided to interpret or translate the application code written in an XML programming language into code that is suitable for execution across computer platforms. Moreover, the XML virtual machine supports the Model View Controller (MVC) design paradigm that facilitates true data abstraction from applications to a common data model. Multi-instance applications, with each instance potentially supporting multiple views, may be created and executed.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of the following: ProvisionalApplication No. 60/976,216, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/976,222, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No.60/976,246, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,249,filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,252, filed Sep.28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,258, filed Sep. 28, 2007;Provisional Application No. 60/976,266, filed Sep. 28, 2007; ProvisionalApplication No. 60/976,269, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/976,275, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No.60/976,281, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,283,filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,292, filed Sep.28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,301, filed Sep. 28, 2007;Provisional Application No. 60/976,304, filed Sep. 28, 2007; ProvisionalApplication No. 60/976,308, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/976,311, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No.60/976,312, filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,320,filed Sep. 28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,325, filed Sep.28, 2007; Provisional Application No. 60/976,327, filed Sep. 28, 2007;and Provisional Application No. 60/976,339, filed Sep. 28, 2007, all ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Computer networks configured to exchange data according to commonprotocols, such as the Internet Protocol (“IP”), are increasingly usedto perform a variety of tasks between remote systems and users. Theconnectivity available from computer networks has led organizations andothers to seek solutions that facilitate participation in collaborativeprocesses. In this regard, many existing Web sites, network portals, anddistributed applications allow users to share data and collaborate invarious ways. To further support collaboration, resources areincreasingly being made available as a service of the network. Generallydescribed, a service refers to software and hardware that are madeaccessible from the network separate from any underlying technologies.Accordingly, a network service is frequently described as being “looselycoupled” to the operating system, programming languages, and hardwarecomponents on which the service is implemented. As a result, networkservices may be combined to create distributed applications even thoughdifferent underlying technologies are utilized.

The term “cloud” computing is frequently used to describe the trendtoward an increasing number of services being made available from thenetwork. As network bandwidth and connectivity increases, theapplications and economic incentives of cloud computing will onlycontinue to expand. However, existing systems utilize machine-centricoperating systems to manage communications over the network andfacilitate collaboration. In this regard, the core design ofmachine-centric operating systems was established prior to thedevelopment of computer networks, such as the Internet. As a result,existing systems are unable to provide a generalized collaborationenvironment where network communications are readily integrated intoapplications and other aspects of the user experience. Instead,developing applications that facilitate sharing and participation incollaborative processes remains arduous and ultimately too difficult orexpensive for most users and/or organizations. Therefore, a need existsfor a network operating system that provides more effective ways ofleveraging the connectivity of computer networks.

SUMMARY

Generally described, the present invention is directed to a networkoperating system that provides more effective ways of leveraging theconnectivity of computer networks. In one embodiment, an XML virtualmachine is implemented that accepts high-level application code writtenin an XML programming language as input. Functionality is provided tointerpret or translate the application code written in an XMLprogramming language into code that is suitable for execution acrosscomputer platforms. Moreover, the XML virtual machine supports the ModelView Controller (MVC) design paradigm that facilitates true dataabstraction from applications to a common data model. Multi-instanceapplications, with each instance potentially supporting multiple views,may be created and executed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary pictorial depiction of a networking environmentthat includes a server-side data center and a plurality of clientcomputers suitable for illustrating aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary pictorial depiction of a networking environmentthat includes a server-side data center and a plurality of clientcomputers suitable for illustrating aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary hardware architectureof a computing device suitable for implementing aspects of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 4A-C are block diagrams of exemplary platform environments inwhich the present invention may be implemented;

FIGS. 5A-B are exemplary pictorial depiction of a networking environmentthat includes a server-side data center and a plurality of clientcomputers suitable for illustrating aspects of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A-B depict exemplary process and UI XML documents associated withan application suitable to illustrate aspects of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A-C depicts an exemplary graphical display that visually depictsgraphical elements of the application described semantically in FIGS.6A-B;

FIGS. 8A-B are pictorial depictions of components suitable to illustrateaspects of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram with exemplary managers configured toimplement aspects of the present invention;

FIGS. 10A-C are diagrams illustrating an exemplary applicationinitiation routine that performs processing to open an applicationpackage in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates a routine foropening and initiating execution of logic defined in an application'sprocess code;

FIGS. 12A-B depict an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates an executemethod configured to cause operations in a process step to be executed;

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an open handling routine that opens an XMLdocument in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 14A-14B are diagrams depicting the interactions between objectsthat are suitable for illustrating aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates an actionhandling routine that implements functionality in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of an bind handling routine that binds an object tothe data model in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 17A-B are diagrams depicting a trigger activation routine thatcauses application code to be executed in response to a trigger beingactivated in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a diagram of a decision handling routine configured toperform an evaluation direct the flow of application execution based onthe evaluation;

FIG. 19 is a diagram of a change handling routine that depicts the logicfor implementing a change operation in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 20A-C are diagrams depicting a data update routine that implementslogic for modifying the contents of the data model in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a diagram of a set rule routine that depicts the logic forsetting a components rules in the data model in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a diagram of a notify listeners routine that notifies objectsof a data update in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 23 is a diagram of a rendering routine that causes an applicationsview to be rendered in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 24 illustrates a block diagram suitable for describing the ways inwhich applications interact with a variety of exemplary data sources inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 illustrates a block diagram suitable for describing an XML filesystem provided by the present invention.

FIG. 26 illustrates a message server configured to enablesynchronization of data across the network in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 illustrates additional aspects of the message server inaccordance with another embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 28A-28D illustrate an exemplary method for retrieving a file froma file system provided by the present invention;

FIG. 28E illustrates an excerpt of an exemplary file that is suitablefor illustrating aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 29 illustrates a method configured to retrieve a list of files inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 30A-30C illustrate a method that creates a file within the XMLfile system in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 31A-31E illustrate a method that opens an existing file within theXML file system in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 32 illustrates a method that initiates startup of the networkoperating system on a client computer in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 33 illustrates a method for mounting a network operating systemgroup in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 34A illustrates a method that transitions a client computer from anonline state to an offline state in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 34B illustrates an exemplary pictorial depictions of a plurality ofdrives that may be used for network collaboration in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 35 illustrates a method of transitioning a client computer back toan online state when the client computer has been operating in anoffline state in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 36 illustrates a method of handling a request to create a new filein a way that facilitates enhanced network communications in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 37 illustrates a shared data file utilized with a chat applicationthat is suitable for describing additional aspects of the presentinvention;

FIG. 38 illustrates the relationships between components and the datamodel utilized by a chat application in accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 39 illustrates the updating of a shared data file used tofacilitate a chat conversation in accordance with another embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 40 illustrates an exemplary set of communications performed in achat conversation in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 41 illustrates the use a shared data file in performingcollaborative communications between multiple clients;

FIG. 42 depicts the user interface of an exemplary application suitablefor illustrating additional aspects of the present invention; and

FIG. 43 depicts the user interface of an exemplary application suitablefor illustrating additional aspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, aspects of the present invention are directed to anetwork operating system that facilitates the development ofInternet-scale cloud computing. In an actual embodiment, the networkoperating system described herein utilizes the XML (eXtensible MarkupLanguage) as a general-purpose language to represent data. Accordingly,the examples provided below may describe functionality of the networkoperating system with reference to XML structured data and documents. Inthis regard, many benefits and synergies are achieved by using XML inthis context. However, those skilled in the art and others willrecognize that the invention may be implemented using other underlyingtechnologies, or combinations of technologies, than described hereinwithout departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter.Moreover, the illustrative examples and descriptions provided below arenot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the preciseforms disclosed. Similarly, any steps described below may beinterchangeable with other steps or combinations of steps in order toachieve the same result.

Referring to FIG. 1, the following is intended to provide an overview ofa networking environment 100 that may be used to implement aspects ofthe present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the networkingenvironment 100 includes the server-side data center 102 that isassociated with the servers 104. The networking environment 100 alsoincludes a plurality of client computing devices associated with theuser 112 including the mobile phone 106, the desktop computer 108, andthe thin client 110. In this regard, the server-side data center 102 isconfigured to communicate with the mobile phone 106, the desktopcomputer 108, and the thin client 110 via the network 114, which may beimplemented as a local area network (“LAN”), wireless network, wide areanetwork (“WAN”), such as the Internet, and the like. As known to thoseskilled in the art and others, the computing devices illustrated in FIG.1 may be configured to exchange files, commands, and other types of dataover the network 114. However, since protocols for networkcommunication, such as TCP/IP, are well known to those skilled in theart, those protocols will not be described here.

In existing systems, application programs that are available on one typeof computing device may be incompatible with other types of devices.This incompatibility creates a variety of problems. For example, on ageneral-purpose desktop computer a user may employ a particularapplication to access e-mail messages. On the other hand, in order toaccess e-mail on a limited resource device, such as a mobile phone,another program with different features and interfaces may be required.This incompatibility is not conducive to providing a common userexperience and minimizing the amount of knowledge and skill required byusers. Moreover, excessive development time is spent creatingapplications for different types of devices even though manyapplications implement similar or identical functionality.

Aspects of the invention may be applied in a number of differentcontexts of which the following is only an example. In one embodiment, auser's applications and data are accessible from any type of computingdevice that is enabled for the network operating system. As illustratedin FIG. 1, the user 112 may connect to the network 114 from the mobilephone 106, desktop computer 108, or thin client 110. In response, theserver-side data center 102 delivers network operating system servicesto the appropriate device. More specifically, a client-side component ofthe network operating system and user applications may be delivered andbuilt each time the user connects to the network. Applications executelocally at the appropriate client computing device and not on theservers 104. User data may be cached on a client computing device, butwill persist to storage maintained by the server-side data center 102.Accordingly, communications between the client computing devices 106-110and the server-side data center 102 are principally performed to obtaindocuments and update data. In instances when a client goes off-line, theclient-side component of the network operating system causes dataupdates to be cached locally. These updates may be transmitted to theserver-side data center 102 and synchronized with any other changes whena network connection is re-established.

In one embodiment, the network operating system may provide a commonexperience across each of a user's computing devices. In this regard, acommon desktop application is delivered and built on disparate types ofcomputing devices. From the common desktop, all of a user's applicationprograms and data may be accessed. For example, a single e-mail programenabled for the network operating system may be accessed by the user 112from any of the client computing devices 106-110. Since user data isavailable from the server-side data center 102 and applications aredelivered as a service, the same applications (e.g., email program) anddata (e.g., e-mail messages) are available regardless of which computingdevice is being used.

The services provided by the network operating system to a clientcomputing device may be customized depending on user preferences andother variables. In this regard, configuration data is maintained thatdefines how or whether certain network operating system services will beprovided. For example, a user may establish preferences to havedifferent sets of application programs or data available depending onthe computing device being used. By way of another example, a user mayconnect to the network 114 from any number of access points including aninsecure wireless connection. In this instance, security attributes maybe established so that certain services and/or data are inaccessiblebecause of the insecure nature of the network connection. As will beappreciated by those skilled in the art and others, the examplesprovided above represent only some of the ways in which the networkoperating system services may be customized using the present invention.

For the sake of convenience, FIG. 1 illustrates the server-side datacenter 102, server computers 104, mobile phone 106, desktop computer108, and thin client 110, that are usable in the networking environment100 in which complementary tasks may be performed by remote computingdevices linked together through the network 114. However, the inventionmay be practiced using other types of client computing devices such as,but not limited to laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), hybrid/embedded devices, set-top boxes, mediacenters, and the like. Moreover, those skilled in the art and otherswill recognize that the invention may be implemented in differentnetwork configurations and the example depicted in FIG. 1 should beconstrued as exemplary.

Now with reference to FIG. 2, another networking environment 200 thatmay be used to illustrate additional aspects of invention will bedescribed. As depicted in FIG. 2, the server-side data center 202 may becoupled to a private network such as the enterprise network 204. In thisinstance, additional network operating system services are provided tothe clients 206, 208, and 210 directly over the enterprise network 204.However the network operating system is still provided and managed fromthe server-side data center 216, the enterprise server-side data center202 is only providing additional services. Moreover, the same additionalservices may be provided to clients outside the enterprise network 204.In this example, the server-side data center 202 provides networkservices to the client 212 over the Internet 214. Similar to thedescription provided above, the clients 206-212 may be any computingdevice (mobile phone, desktop computer, thin client, etc.) enabled forthe network operating system. In yet another embodiment, the networkedoperating system may be provided directly by the enterprise server-sidedata center 202 together with its additional services and may or may not(depending on security configurations) allow access to the externalserver-side data center 216 outside the enterprise network 204.

The network operating system is configured to facilitate theparticipation in collaborative processes. One aspect of the presentinvention is an XML file system that serves as a network repositorycapable of storing any type of data including XML documents,executables, binaries, multimedia, etc. The XML file system may beimplemented at the server-side data center 202 or 216 to manage physicalstorage and data access. In addition to conventional file systemfunctions, the XML file system allows various types of collaborationspaces to be defined. In an exemplary embodiment, the types ofcollaboration spaces supported include communities, groups, friends, aswell as subsets within existing collaboration spaces (e.g.,sub-communities, sub-groups, etc.). A root folder in the XML file systemserves as a repository for each community, group, or other collaborationspace that is created. Moreover, folders and files may be created in theXML file system that are associated with individual users. In anotherembodiment, collaboration between different users may be dynamicallyenabled without users sharing a collaboration space in the XML filesystem. As described in further detail below, messaging services areprovided that allow users to generate and accept requests to establish acollaboration session in real-time. As such, users may establish newrelationships through dynamically created collaboration sessions eventhough an existing collaboration space is not defined.

A login prompt may be used to obtain user credentials when a client-sidecomponent of the network operating system begins executing. Tofacilitate transparent access, each folder associated with the user maybe mapped from the XML file system as a virtual drive on the client. Forexample, if a user is a member of a particular group, the group folderwill appear as a virtual drive on the client. In one embodiment, afolder in the XML file system includes XML structured data that definesthe shared resources of a collaboration space. These shared resourcesmay include, but are not limited to, applications, data documents,access and security settings, user lists, statistics, calendar, and thelike. The XML file system may also in one embodiment act as a repositoryand database substitute for one or more applications executing on thenetworked operating system environment. As described in further detailbelow, data maintained in the collaborative and distributed database maybe automatically synchronized through transaction management provided bythe present invention. By building applications utilizing this type ofcollaborative and distributed database, applications inherit thecharacteristics of the database and may readily share data.

Since the XML file system follows an application programming interface(API), other embodiments of the server-side data center 202 arepossible. In the regard, other XML web services may be provided from theXML file system are desirable in cases where abstractions on top oflegacy applications and databases within the enterprise is needed to beable to provide a new application or integrate multiple applicationsexecuting on the networked operating system environment. The customizedimplementations of the XML file system may choose the level offunctionality to support. For example, the support for synchronizingtransactions may be omitted in one level of support.

In addition to managing data access, the XML file system provides anintegrated framework for creating and customizing associations betweenusers in a way that facilitates collaboration by synchronizing data andcoordinating transactional control of data updates. For example, anapplication along with any associated user data may be shared by a groupof users (e.g., friends). Both the functionality of the sharedapplication and associated user data may be represented in XML documentsmaintained in the group or user folder, along with other resources. TheXML file system provides a way for each user to access the sharedapplication and associated user data. In this way, the sharedapplication may be delivered and built on multiple clients with eachgroup member manipulating data from the same group or user folder.

As mentioned previously, clients outside the enterprise network 204(i.e., client 212) may obtain services from the server-side data center202. By way of example, an employee or other user may be provided withaccess to enterprise resources when outside the enterprise network 204.Accordingly, the client 212 may be a home computer, mobile phone, etc.that accesses the server-side data center 202 over the Internet 214. Inthis regard, those skilled in the art and others recognize that thenetworking environment 200 may include additional networks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 2 and the exemplary configuration in FIG. 2 may bereconfigured in many ways to deliver both the network operating systemand additional XML file systems in other ways. For example, the networkaccess point for the client 212 may originate from a local area network,wireless network, wide area network, etc. which may also be true for theserver-side data centers 202 and 216.

In another embodiment, clients may obtain different types of servicesfrom the enterprise server-side data center 202 depending on one or morevariables. Instead of providing the same network services to eachclient, network services may be configured depending on the location ofthe client's network access point. For example, clients 206-210 thatconnect directly to the enterprise network 204 may be provided withadditional customized services specific to the enterprise. Outside theenterprise network 204, external services may be delivered to the client212 (such as a customer, supplier, employee, or other user related tothe enterprise) from the server-side data center 202. To facilitate thesecure delivery of customized network services, resources may beallocated by the server-side data center 202 for managing differenttypes of clients. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, the server-sidedata center 202 includes the hard drive 220 that is allocated to providecustomized services to the clients 206-210 inside the network. On theother hand, the hard drive 222 may be allocated to provide the moregeneralized services to clients outside the enterprise network, such asclient 212. In still other embodiments, the services that are providedto a client may depend on other variables such as the user credentials,settings information, type of client, and the like.

In one aspect, the network operating system provides a more generalizedframework for facilitating real-time “business-to-business”collaboration. A collaboration space may be created that allowsdifferent enterprises to access resources from a common data store. Inthe example depicted in FIG. 2, the client 212 may be associated with apartner enterprise to the enterprise that maintains the server-side datacenter 202. In this regard, the clients illustrated in FIG. 2 may beoperated by users or software agents that interact with the server-sidedata center 202. When operated by software agents, aspects of theinvention are effectively creating an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)relationship in which users associated with the enterprise orindividually automatically share resources utilizing the XML filesystem. EDI services may also be provided by the publicly availableserver-data center 216, depending on security requirements. A groupfolder may be created in the XML file system that stores the sharedresources of the partnership and/or defines the business rules of theEDI. Similar to the description provided above, the group folder may bemapped as a virtual drive on the client 212, thereby providingtransparent access to shared resources outside the enterprise network204. Significantly, the shared application may be delivered as XMLstructured data from the server-side data center 202 to the clients206-212. Each of the clients 206-212 builds and executes the applicationlocally, reporting data updates back to the shared folder or each usersprivate folders in the XML file system. In one embodiment, theserver-side data center 202 is configured to manage data updatecoordination so that multiple clients may access and update the samedocuments simultaneously. This coordination may also be performed by theserver-side data center 216 if the data is stored in its XML filesystem.

In one aspect, the network operating system allows the clients 206-212transparent access to external network services. Using an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API), a communicator may be created thatabstracts the data handling functions for interacting with any (internalor external) network service. By way of example, developers can createcommunicators that access network servers hosting XML Web services, RESTservices, XML resources, RSS or Atom feeds, text, csv text, HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) based Web sites, among others. Referring toFIG. 2, an instance of a communicator or “channel” may be instantiatedby the client 212 in order to interact with the Web service 218. In thisexample, network operating system services are accessible on a publicnetwork (i.e., the Internet 214) to the client 212 using the server-sidedata center 216 as a proxy. Moreover, the Web service 218 is accessibleto the clients 206-210 using a communicator even though networkoperating services are being provided from a private network (e.g., theenterprise network 204). In this instance, the server-side data center216 serves as the proxy that manages communications between the clients206-210 and the Web service 218. Accordingly, clients may usecommunicators to abstract data handling functions when accessing networkservices. This aspect of the invention simplifies applicationdevelopment since developers are not required to repetitively write codefor managing communications between a client and network service.

While FIG. 2 illustrates an enterprise network 204, those skilled in theart and others will recognize that this is merely exemplary. Instead,the present invention may facilitate data synchronization andcollaboration in other types of network environments. Accordingly, thedescription provided with reference to FIG. 2 is equally applicable tolocal area networks maintained by homes and small business as well aswide area networks such as the Internet. Moreover, the examples providedabove are made with reference to a server-side data center 202 thatprovides distinct network services to each client 206-212. However, theserver-side data center 202 may be configured to provide networkservices that complement the resources or services of another device ornetwork. For example, a small business may maintain a network drive forall clients connected to a local area network. The server-side datacenter 202 may provide data storage services to complement the publicnetwork drive at the server-side data center 216 by providing additionalstorage or allowing backup in the event that a public network deviceexperiences a failure. By way of another example, a home network mayutilize a media center computer to provide each local client access todigital media. To complement the storage of the media center computer, avirtual drive may be provided by the server-side data center 202 to alldevices connected to the home network. In this regard the virtual drivemay be configured to allocate the actual storage of data between themedia center computer and the server-side data center 202 based on userpreferences or other configuration variables.

Now with reference to FIG. 3, an exemplary hardware architecture of acomputing device 300 will be described. While FIG. 3 is described withreference to a computing device that is implemented as a client on thenetwork, the description below is applicable to servers and otherdevices that may be used to implement the present invention. Moreover,those skilled in the art and others will recognize that the computingdevice 300 may be any one of any number of currently available or yet tobe developed devices. In its most basic configuration, the computingdevice 300 includes at least one central processing unit (“CPU”) 302 anda system memory 304 connected by a communication bus 306. Depending onthe exact configuration and type of device, the system memory 304 may bevolatile or nonvolatile memory, such as read only memory (“ROM”), randomaccess memory (“RAM”), EEPROM, flash memory, or similar memorytechnology. Those skilled in the art and others will recognize thatsystem memory 304 typically stores data and/or program modules that areimmediately accessible to and/or currently being operated on by the CPU302. In this regard, the CPU 302 serves as the computational center ofthe computing device 300 by supporting the execution of instructions.

As further illustrated in FIG. 3, the computing device 300 includes anetwork interface 310 comprising one or more components forcommunicating with other devices over the network. As described infurther detail below, the present invention may access basic servicesthat utilize the network interface 310 to perform communications usingcommon network protocols. In the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG.3, the computing device 300 also includes a storage medium 308. However,as described in further detail below with reference to FIG. 4A, networkoperating system services may be accessed using a computing device thatdoes not include means for persisting data to a local storage medium.Therefore, the storage medium 308 depicted in FIG. 3 is represented witha dashed line to indicate that the storage medium 308 is optional. Inany event, the storage medium 308 may be volatile or nonvolatile,removable or nonremovable, implemented using any technology capable ofstoring information such as, but not limited to, a hard drive, solidstate drive, CD-ROM, DVD, or other disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, and the like.

As used herein, the term “computer readable media” includes volatile andnon-volatile and removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology capable of storing information, such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. In this regard, the system memory 304 and storage medium 308depicted in FIG. 3 are merely examples of computer readable media.

Suitable implementations of computing devices that include a CPU 302,system memory 304, communication bus 306, storage medium 308, andnetwork interface 310 are known and commercially available. For ease ofillustration and because it is not important for an understanding of theclaimed subject matter, FIG. 3 does not show some of the typicalcomponents of many computing devices. In this regard, the computingdevice 300 will typically include input devices, such as a keyboard,mouse, microphone, touch input device, etc. Similarly, the computingdevice 300 may also include output devices such as a display, speakers,printer, etc. Since all these devices are well known in the art, theyare not described here.

Now with reference to FIGS. 4A-4C, exemplary platform environments inwhich the present invention may be implemented will be described. Inthis regard, FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate the hierarchical relationshipsbetween platform layers of the computing device 300 (FIG. 3). Morespecifically, the platform layers of the computing device 300illustrated in FIGS. 4A-B include a hardware platform 402 on the bottomlayer, a machine operating system 404 in the middle layer, and anapplication platform 406 on the top layer. Of course, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the platform layers of the computing device300 depicted in FIGS. 4A-4C are merely exemplary.

Since an exemplary hardware platform 402 of the computing device 300 isdescribed above with reference to FIG. 3, additional description ofthese components will not be provided here. However, as illustrated inFIGS. 4A-4B, the computing device 300 may include a machine operatingsystem 404. In this regard, the machine operating system 404 may be fromany of the family of general-purpose operating systems configured toutilize generic hardware such as Microsoft® operating systems, Apple®operating systems, UNIX® operating systems, Linux® operating system,Nokia® Symbian, Google® Android, etc. Also, the machine operating system404 may be an operating system configured for specialized computingdevices that use non-generic hardware such as thin clients, mobilephones, mainframes, supercomputers, and the like. Moreover, the machineoperating system 404 may be an operating system designed to satisfycertain configuration parameters such as real-time operating systems,embedded operating systems, etc.

One purpose of machine operating systems is to abstract the details ofaccessing and otherwise utilizing hardware resources. Accordingly,machine operating systems almost all perform basic system tasks, such asmanaging I/O (input and output) with hardware components, memorymanagement, task scheduling, etc. In this regard, machine operatingsystems typically offer services to application programs through an API.Providing services through an API relieves application developers fromhaving to manage the implementation details of accessing or otherwiseutilizing an underlying computer platform. Significantly, aspects of thepresent invention use the machine operating system 404 only for basicservices that are available from all modern computer platforms. In thisregard, services may be utilized for interfacing with networkinghardware and establishing a network connection to communicate usingTCP/IP protocols.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4A, the computing device 300 includesa Web browser 408 that operates at the top layer of the applicationplatform 406. As mentioned previously, a client-side component 410 ofthe network operating system may be delivered and built on the computingdevice 300. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4A, the client-sidecomponent 410 is configured to operate within the context of the Webbrowser 408. In this regard, the Web browser 408 may be any number ofbrowser applications configured to communicate with remote devices usingTCP/IP network communication protocols including, but not limited to,Mozilla Firefox®, Microsoft's Internet Explorer®, and the like.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4A, the client-side component 410does not directly interact with the machine operating system 404.Instead, basic services used by the client-side component 410 areaccessed from the Web browser 408. Those skilled in the art and otherswill recognize that HTTP is a higher-level protocol than TCP/IP that,among other things, allows network resources to be requested/receivedusing a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). Typically, Web browsersgenerate HTTP requests in order to obtain Web pages formatted in amarkup language such as the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), eXtensibleMarkup Language (XML) or formatted using JSON (“Java Script ObjectNotation”) and/or JavaScript. In one embodiment, the Web browser 408 isused by the client-side component 410 of the network operating system toperform network communications using HTTP and for rendering graphicalelements that are represented in HTML among other graphicalrepresentation technologies available from Web browsers.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4B, the client-side component 410 ofthe network operating system directly accesses the services of themachine operating system 404 without using a Web browser. Aspects of thepresent invention allow applications to be delivered and built ondisparate types of computing devices. However, Web browsers aretypically configured to display graphical elements according to apre-determined page size and/or layout. Thus, a general-purpose Webbrowser may not be well-suited for rendering graphical elements on everytype of computing device in which the present invention may beimplemented. For example, using a Web browser to render graphicalelements on a small form factor computing device may be problematic. Inthis regard, the pre-determined page size and/or layout anticipated bythe Web browser may be too large or otherwise inappropriate given theavailable form factor. As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the client-sidecomponent 410 of the network operating system may be implemented as astand-alone application, or even as a machine operating system. In thisinstance, the client-side component 410 is configured to performgraphical rendering in a way that is appropriate given the form factorof the computing device 300 without using a Web browser. Moreover, inthis embodiment, basic services for performing network communicationsare obtained directly from the machine operating system 404 or builtinto the client-side component 410.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4C, the computing device 300 does notinclude a traditional machine operating system. Instead, basic servicesfor interacting with the hardware platform 402 are built into theclient-side component 410. In this embodiment, the client-side component410 implements basic system tasks for performing memory management, taskscheduling, and the like. By building these types of basic machineservices into the client-side component 410, aspects of the presentinvention may be readily customized and deployed for use with particularhardware platforms. In other words, the client-side component 410 may beconfigured to be independent from the services offered by providers ofmachine operating systems.

As mentioned above, the client-side component 410 may be delivered as anetwork service and built each time a user connects to the network. Asillustrated in FIGS. 4A-4C, the client-side component 410 is suitablefor being implemented as a stand-alone application, a machine operatingsystem, or within the context of a Web browser. In all of theseembodiments, the server-side data center 202 or 216 may provideapplication logic to the client-side component 410 as a service of thenetwork. Accordingly, a limited resource computing device that does nothave a storage medium (e.g., hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.) may be usedto access network operating system services provided by the presentinvention. In this regard, the client-side component 410 and othernetwork operating system data may be cached in system memory (ROM, RAM,etc.) without persisting to a local storage medium. As such,applications enabled for the network operating system do not need to be“installed” on the computing device 300 as applications may be deliveredas a service.

Now with reference to FIGS. 5A-5B, a description of how a common datamodel may be used to deliver network operating system services inaccordance with the present invention is provided. The network operatingsystem supports the Model View Controller (MVC) design paradigm byseparating application components into different layers, namely, amodel, view, and controller. In an actual embodiment, XML documents arethe “model” or common data format in which information is represented inthe network operating system environment. Utilizing a common data model(e.g., the XML document) in this context results in many benefits, aswill be clear in the description that follows.

The networking environment 500 depicted in FIGS. 5A-5B includes theserver-side data center 502 that is communicatively connected to each ofthe clients 504 and 506 via the network 508. As described above, theclient-side component of the network operating system may be dynamicallydelivered to each of the clients 504 and 506 from the server-side datacenter 502 or be locally installed on either of the clients 504 and 506.In either instance, the client-side component of the network operatingsystem provides an XML virtual machine 510 that interprets or causes XMLstructured applications to be executed on the clients 504 and 506. Whendelivered as a service, aspects of the present invention cause thenetwork operating system to “boot” by delivering a process XML documentfrom the server-side data center 502. In this regard, the process XMLdocument provides the logic that describes a startup-sequence for theclients 504 and 506. As described in further detail below, this processXML document will be executed within the XML virtual machine 510. Thestartup-sequence typically instantiates and manipulates a set of objectswithin the XML virtual machine 510 so that other applications may beexecuted.

As mentioned above, XML may serve as the “model” or common format inwhich application logic and other data is represented in the networkoperating system environment, but other models, data formats, andstructuring of data may also be utilized to implement the invention. Inone embodiment, XML programming languages that allow applications to bedesigned at a very high level of abstraction are provided. Those skilledin the art and others will recognize that XML is a highly structured,transferable, and transformable language. As such, representingapplication logic at a high abstraction level as XML structured data ismemory efficient and results in compact applications. Specifically, aplatform is provided for executing an application's logic represented inone or more well-formed XML documents. Application functionality isseparated according to the MVC design paradigm thereby eliminatingrepetitive tasks performed by traditional systems. Accordingly,transmission of application code from the server-side data center 502 tothe clients 504 and 506 consumes a small amount of bandwidth whencompared to existing systems. Moreover, execution of the applicationlogic using the present invention, either eliminates or greatly reducesthe bandwidth consumed, since application logic is executed using theXML virtual machine 510. Interactions that would have otherwise beenhandled by performing a server “round-trip” is handled directly on theclients 504 or 506 without having to request or otherwise rely onnetwork communications with the server-side data center 502.

One aspect of the present invention is an XML virtual machine 510 thatprovides the clients 504 and 506 a platform and application programminginterface (API) for executing and developing applications. In thisregard, high-level application code written in an XML programminglanguage is accepted as input and executed locally on the clients 504and 506 by the XML virtual machine 510. Functionality is provided tointerpret or translate the high-level application code intointerpretable code, byte code, or other lower-level language that issuitable for execution on any platform. In this regard, the XML virtualmachine 510 abstracts the underlying computer platform and networkresources so that applications may be executed in the same way on anytype of computing device. Accordingly, the XML virtual machine 510 iscompletely platform and hardware independent and can be implementedusing any number of currently available, or yet to be developed,programming technologies, such as, but not limited to, Microsoft .NET®,Java, C, C++, HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, Adobe® Flash, Microsoft®SilverLight, and the like.

Now with reference to FIG. 5B, additional aspects of how the common datamodel is used to provide network operating system services will bedescribed. The networking environment 500 illustrated in FIG. 5Bincludes the same components described above with reference to FIG. 5A.In addition, an XML file system 512 that provides storage and othernetwork services is depicted on the server-side data center 502.Accordingly, data maintained in the XML file system 512 may be accessedby the clients 504 and 506 when network operating system services arebeing provided. In one aspect, the present invention implements aclient-side cache 514 for managing the storage of documents and otherrun-time data on the clients 504 and 506. As illustrated in FIG. 5B,data stored in the client-side cache 514 is readily accessible to theXML virtual machine 510. In one embodiment, the client-side cache 514enables the XML virtual machine 510 to continue executing applicationseven if the network connection is temporarily unavailable or if a client504 or 506 goes offline. By way of example, applications executing onthe clients 504 and 506 may continue to operate offline when a user ison a bus, train or airplane and other instances when a networkconnection is unavailable. As described in further detail below, datachanges performed on the clients 504 or 506 will be synchronized to theXML file system 512 residing on the server-side data center 512 when thenetwork connection is re-established.

As mentioned previously, the present invention provides programminglanguages that allow developers to create applications at a very highlevel of abstraction. In an actual embodiment, these programminglanguages include a process XML language, a user interface (“UI”) XMLlanguage, and an application package XML language. Application codewritten in these programming languages is suitable to be represented asXML structured data and stored in XML documents. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 5B, the process XML document 516, user interface XMLdocument 518, and application package XML document 520 containapplication code written in these programming languages, respectively.Accordingly, an application may be defined in one or more XML documentsmaintained at the server-side data center 502. Moreover, an applicationwill typically utilize data documents such as the data XML document 522also maintained at the server-side data center 502. These XML documents516-522 may be accessed by the clients 504 and 506 on demand so thatapplications may be executed using the XML virtual machine 510.

In one embodiment, the UI XML language is used to define anapplication's “view” in the MVC design paradigm. In this regard, markuplanguages were originally developed to describe the layout of Web pagesin a way that allowed the pages to be rendered by a Web browser. Thestructured nature of markup languages allowed the appearance of Webpages to be modified without affecting the implementation of the Webbrowser or other related technologies. In this regard, the UI XMLlanguage defines the appearance and behavior of an application userinterface in accordance with a schema that complies with XML syntax.Using the UI XML language, developers may create applications with thesame graphical elements (i.e., menus, toolbars, drop-down boxes, and thelike) that exist in common desktop applications. Since the userinterface logic does not depend or describe its implementation in a waythat is specific to a particular client, the UI XML language is suitablefor developing user interfaces that work across different platforms.Moreover, user interfaces and behavior described in the UI XML languagedescribe these elements in accordance with the XML syntax at ahigher-level of abstraction in accordance with the MVC design paradigm.Accordingly, user interfaces and behavior described in the UI XMLlanguage may be readily transformed or otherwise modified withoutimpacting other systems. This ability to transform the UI XML languageallows an application's functionality to be customized based on one ormore variables. For example, a transform may be defined to reduce oreliminate certain aspects of application functionality depending on thetype of device being utilized. By way of another example, a transformmay be defined on the UI XML language to remove or restrict certainfunctionality depending on user access credentials or for localizingapplications for different languages and/or markets.

In one embodiment, the process XML language is used to define the“controller” component of an application in the MVC design paradigm. Inthis regard, the process XML language allows developers to describe thelogic of an application in a set of process steps. Each process stepcontains one or more operations that are approximately equivalent toinstructions and/or method calls in a traditional programming languages.In the MVC design paradigm, the process XML language is used as thecontroller or glue between the user interface (“View”) logic and the XMLdata (“Model”). Accordingly, aspects of the invention enable applicationlogic to be described using the process XML language at a higherabstraction level than traditional programming languages. In thisregard, the user interface logic (“View”) is completely separated fromthe process XML logic (“Controller”). As a result, the data handlingfunctions that comprise the majority of application code in existingsystems is automatically handled by the present invention. Specifically,using the process XML language, intelligent data bindings may be definedbetween the view logic and the data model. When executing applications,the I/O (input and output) or data, both to the data model cachedlocally and to the remote file system and any remote listeners isautomatically handled by the network operating system. Since developersdo not provide data handling logic, the applications created using theprocess XML language are frequently developed more quickly and includeless application code than traditional applications. As described infurther detail below, the process XML language provides other advantagesfor creating and distributing applications in a networking environment,than described with reference to FIG. 5A.

In addition to the languages described above, an application package XMLlanguage is also provided. The application package XML language allowsdevelopers to describe the resources utilized by an application. In thisregard, the UI and process XML documents that define an application'sfunctionality may be identified in an application package. Logic in theapplication package allows developers to package and distribute anapplication's resources to clients in a controlled and secure manner.Moreover, the use of an application package allows multiple instances ofthe application to be created in a way that enables the XML virtualmachine 510 to ensure intra-application security.

In one aspect, the present invention provides improved methods fordistributing applications and software updates in a networkingenvironment. Using existing systems, an application is typicallydistributed in an executable format that, when executed, “installs” theapplication on a computing device. An executable typically representsapplication logic as machine instructions that are specific to aparticular computing platform. As such, an executable is amemory-intensive representation of an application that consumes arelatively large amount of bandwidth when distributed in a networkingenvironment. Accordingly, complex and resource-intensive systems arerequired to distribute and install applications using executables.

Improved methods for distributing applications and software updates overthe network are integrated into the network operating system. Anapplication enabled for the network operating system is not “installed”on a client computing device using an executable. Instead, the presentinvention allows application logic to be represented entirely in XMLstructured data. When a client establishes a network connection, anapplication as represented in one or more XML documents, may be obtainedautomatically from a service provider, which may provide the XMLdocuments from a local/private server or any Web server on the Internet.Accordingly, an integrated framework is provided for distributingapplications to clients over the network. In addition, updates such as“patches” and more recent versions of an application may also propagateautomatically to clients. In this regard, since application logic isrepresented in XML documents that are distributed automatically as anetwork service, any modifications to the XML documents will alsopropagate to clients as a network service. In the network operatingsystem environment application logic may be synchronized across thenetwork the same was as any other data. Since the XML virtual machine510 and XML file system 512 are configured to synchronize data andcoordinate changes through transaction handling, changes to applicationsmay be performed in real-time and in a collaborative manner. Forexample, an application maintained in a shared folder may be opened andexecuted on the client 504. Concurrently, a user associated with theclient 506 could modify the application logic and have the changesautomatically propagated to the client 504. The changes to applicationlogic would be implemented in real-time and therefore be readilyobserved on the client 504 as the changes occur.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 5A-5B, an XML representationof an application is distributed by a service provider and executed onthe client using the XML virtual machine. As a result, clients maycontinue to execute applications “off-line” without requiring runtimeprocessing from the server-side. In this instance, XML documentsrepresenting one or more applications are cached in memory on theclient. The XML virtual machine may access these cached XML documents tocontinue executing applications without having a network connection.Moreover, data updates that occur off-line are also cached andtransmitted to the server-side when a network connection isre-established.

Significantly, the present invention provides network operating systemservices without requiring virtualization of computer resources. In thisregard, a number of technologies for virtualizing computer resources arebeing used to provide network services, such as “cloud” storage.Generally described, these virtualization technologies abstract computerresources that are typically associated with a server away fromunderlying platforms. The abstracted resources are typicallyencapsulated in a platform independent interface suitable to be accessedfrom the network. In this regard, the computer resources that may beabstracted include applications, hardware, desktops, machine operatingsystems, and the like. However, complex systems are required to abstractand encapsulate computer resources in this way. For example, avirtualization layer that simulates a servers underlying hardware andhas at least some impact on performance may be required. Moreover, thesevirtualization technologies promote a server-centric model that shiftsthe location where resources are implemented and executed to theserver-side. The increased processing and other demands placed onservers may not scale when network services are provided to anever-increasing number of users. Accordingly, using virtualizationtechnologies to implement a network service may require a consolidateddata center in which an oversupply of servers are needed to ensure thatthe service is available on demand. Moreover, virtualizationtechnologies consume more bandwidth and result in a slower userexperience since application logic is executed on a remote server andnot directly on the client. This will also result in applications beingunavailable when the network connection goes down or the client goes“off-line.”

Implementing a network service without virtualizing computer resourcesprovides numerous advantages. In this regard, a more-scalablearchitecture is provided that allows network services to be accessed byan ever-increasing number of users. By using the XML virtual machine toexecute applications on the client-side, processing and other resourcesfrom clients are more fully utilized. This implementation provides amore-scalable architecture because a natural correspondence existsbetween the number of users accessing a network service, bandwidthusage, processing power, and other resources that are available from theclient-side to execute application logic. In addition to beingmore-scalable, executing applications on the client using the XMLvirtual machine allows application functionality to be readily accessedby users while “off-line.” When the client goes “off-line,” applicationsand user data represented in one or more XML documents may be stored ina client-side cache. Accordingly, all of an application's logic isavailable and may be executed using data in the cache, regardless ofwhether an active network connection exists. However, an application maynot access network resources while “off-line” and may need toreestablish a network connection to implement all of the application'sfunctionality. In contrast, the “off-line” functionality provided when anetwork service is implemented using virtualization technologies is morelimited. In this regard, some existing network services implement an“off-line” mode where users may continue to interact with an applicationused to access a network service. However, to provide thisfunctionality, an executable or other lower-level representation of anapplication is distributed and installed on the client. When the user is“off-line,” this lower-level representation of the application isexecuted locally. However, installing applications on the client toprovide this “off-line” functionality may not be feasible or convenient.For example, a limited resource computing device may not have sufficientstorage to “install” an executable or other lower-level representationof an application. More generally, the functionality available on aclient without an active network connection is limited to thoseapplications that have been installed locally. However, a client may nothave sufficient computing resources (storage, memory, bandwidth, etc.)to install each desired application using an executable or otherlow-level representation of the application.

In one aspect, the present invention implements improved methods foraccessing network services over mobile, wireless, or unstable networks.Those skilled in the art will recognize that mobile or wireless networksare less reliable and bandwidth-constrained when compared to wirednetworks. Providing programming languages that represent applicationlogic as XML structured data and an XML virtual machine 510 configuredto automatically perform repetitive data handling functions results inhighly compact and memory efficient applications. In this regard,applications are able to share the functionality of the XML virtualmachine 510 and reuse objects when implementing application logic. As aresult, distributing applications enabled for the network operatingsystem consumes a fraction of the bandwidth when compared to existingapplication distribution systems. Moreover, the present invention allowsXML representations of applications to be maintained in a client-sidecache and executed locally using the XML virtual machine 510. Sinceapplication logic and data may be cached locally, a continuous networkconnection may not be necessary. Instead, the present invention iswell-suited to providing access to network services over wirelessnetworks in which network connectivity may be intermittent. Moreover,since applications are executed locally, more reliable network serviceswith a certain guarantee of service may be provided. For example, thepresent invention is also well-suited for providing enterprise classapplications as a service of the network such as the Internet. In thisregard, those skilled in the art and others will recognize thatenterprise class applications may need to be accessible within theenterprise even if the network connection is temporarily unavailable orthe quality of the Internet connection affects access to the network.The invention described herein solves this problem.

Client-Side Component of the Network Operating System

Those skilled in the art and others will recognize that XML is anextensible language that provides a foundation for the creation ofadditional languages. An XML document has a hierarchical tree structure,where the root of the tree identifies the document and other nodes inthe document are descendents of the root. Nodes of the tree may containdocument content, as well as data that defines the structure of thecontent. In addition to the syntax imposed by XML, elements and theirassociated attributes may be defined to establish other semanticconstraints on the structure and content of an XML document. In oneembodiment, the present invention implements schemas or vocabulariesthat apply additional semantic constraints over those imposed by XML.Using the XML languages provided by the present invention, developersrepresent an application's logic semantically in accordance with the MVCdesign paradigm.

The MVC design paradigm was originally implemented in the Smalltalkprogramming language and has since been used in other engineeringcontexts. Those skilled in the art and others will recognize that theMVC design paradigm is merely descriptive of a general architecturalparadigm for separating functionality into layers. As such, the MVCdesign paradigm is implemented in various contexts to eliminatedependencies and support platform independence. By way of example,existing systems used to store HTML data, gather dynamic Web pagecontent, and render a Web page are frequently described as adhering tothe MVC design paradigm. Moreover, development environments used tocreate Web applications may separate functionality into layers accordingto the MVC design paradigm. In this context, the graphical userinterface of the Web application is separated from a data model tosupport more modular application development. However, these existingsystems implement functionality and utilize an underlying data modelthat is more domain-specific than the present invention.

Unlike existing systems, aspects of the present invention allow any typeof application to be created in accordance with the MVC design paradigm.In other words, separation of the user interface from logic and theunderlying data model is not limited to Web applications, Web pages, andthe like. Multi-instance applications, with each instance potentiallysupporting multiple views, may be created and executed in the networkoperating system environment. Moreover, these application instances eachmanipulate data from a common data model. Since developers do not haveto provide program logic for setting and accessing data from the datamodel and managing synchronization and data exchange between the userinterface (“View”) and data model, application development is greatlysimplified.

Now with reference to FIGS. 6A-B, exemplary process and UI XML documentsthat may be used to illustrate aspects of the present invention will bedescribed. FIG. 6A depicts an exemplary process XML document 600(“MyTasks.xml”) that provides a semantic description of the controllerlogic for a “MyTasks” application. As illustrated in FIG. 6A, theMyTasks.xml document 600 includes a trigger 602 defined in the“<trigger>” XML element. This trigger 602 maintains a set of attributesincluding the view, component, event, and step attributes. Moreover,application logic written in the process XML language may define asequence of process steps. In this example, the MyTasks.xml document 600includes a plurality of process steps 604-610 delineated by the “<step>”XML elements. As depicted in FIG. 6A, two attributes are associated witheach of the process steps 604-610 including a number attribute (“id”)and a name attribute. Within each process step, at least one operationis defined. By way of example, the process step 604 associated with thename attribute “Initialize Application” includes three operations612-616 that are delineated by the “<operation>” XML elements.

FIG. 6B depicts an excerpt from a UI XML document (“MyTasks_gui.xml”)that provides a semantic description of exemplary “view” logic for theMyTasks application. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, the MyTasks_gui.xmldocument 650 includes two button components 652 and 654 delineated bythe “<button>” XML elements. Each button element maintains a set ofattributes including the name, text, and width attributes. Moreover, theMyTasks_gui.xml document 650 includes two input components 656 and 658delineated by the “<input>” XML elements. In this example, the inputcomponents 656 and 658 maintain a set of attributes that include thename, width, and height attributes.

Upon launching an application, aspects of the invention that serve asthe XML virtual machine may begin interpreting the MyTasks.xml document600. In one embodiment, application logic is interpreted one statementat a time, rather than being compiled in its entirety before execution.However, application code written in the XML languages provided by thepresent invention may be compiled into executable code or byte code inalternative embodiments. In this example, the MyTasks.xml document 600defines a trigger 602 that identifies a process step 606 in theapplication that will be executed in response to activation of thetrigger. Initially, when the XML virtual machine begins interpreting theMyTasks.xml document 600 in an illustrative embodiment, the trigger 602is registered so that flow may be directed to the appropriate processstep 606 in response to the activation of the trigger.

In the MyTasks.xml document 600 depicted in FIG. 6A, the applicationdefines a default process step 604 with the name attribute “InitializeApplication” where flow of control is directed once any triggers in theapplication have been registered. The operation 612 with the nameattribute “open” and the value attribute “apps/mytasks_gui.xml” is thefirst operation in the Initialize Application process step 604 that willbe executed. Execution of the Open operation 612 will cause the view ofthe application as represented in the MyTasks_gui.xml document 650 to beinterpreted and rendered on a computer display. In this example, theapplication's view includes the components 652-658 defined semanticallyin the MyTasks_gui.xml document 650. Once the MyTasks_gui.xml document650 has been opened, execution will proceed to the operation 614 withthe name attribute “action” and the value attribute “#MyTasks.”Generally described, execution of the Action operation 614 will causethe button component 654 to be hidden from view once the MyTasks_gui.xmldocument 650 has been opened.

With reference now to FIGS. 7A-C, an exemplary graphical display 700associated with the MyTasks application will be described. Specifically,the graphical display 700 depicted in FIG. 7A includes the Button1component 702 and the Button2 component 704 that correspond to thebutton components 652-654 described semantically in the MyTasks_gui.xmldocument 650. Moreover, the graphical display 700 includes the Input3component 706 and Input4 component 708 that correspond to the semanticdescription of the input components 656-658, respectively. In thisregard, the graphical display 700 in FIG. 7A represents a visualdepiction of the MyTasks_gui.xml document 650. As mentioned above, theprocess logic in the MyTasks.xml document 600 causes the Button2component 704 to be hidden when the MyTasks application is launched.Accordingly, the Button2 component 704 is depicted in FIG. 7A with adashed line to indicate that the Button2 component 704 is not initiallyvisible to the user subsequent to execution of the Action operation 614.

Generally described, the exemplary MyTasks application is configured todisplay a list of task descriptions that are stored in a“data/tasks.xml” document. More specifically, task descriptions will bedisplayed in the Input3 component 706 by default when the application islaunched. In one aspect, a user may modify the task list by directlyinteracting with the Input3 component 706 and changing entries of taskdescriptions. In another aspect, the user may input a new taskdescription into the Input4 component 708 and activate the trigger 602by selecting the Button1 component 702. If valid input is received, thenew task description is added to the “data/tasks.xml” document andautomatically displayed by the Input3 component 706. Conversely, if theuser merely selects the Button1 component 702 without providing anyinput into the Input4 component 708, the Button2 component 704 isdisplayed with text requesting that the user provide a valid taskdescription.

With reference again to FIG. 6A, the operation 616 with the nameattribute “bind” and the value attribute “data/tasks.xml” is the nextoperation in the Initialize Application process step 604 that will beexecuted. Generally described, execution of the Bind operation 616 willcause the Input3 component 706 to become a data binding component thatdisplays a list of task descriptions. Specifically, the logic providedin the Bind operation 616 and its associated component element 618,binds the Input3 component 706 to a list of task descriptionsrepresented in the “data/tasks.xml” document. In this example, a task isdefined within the “data/tasks.xml” document as an element thatmaintains an associated description attribute. The logic provided by thecomponent element 618 selects the “/tasks/task/@description” attributeof the task element for display in the Input3 component 706. As depictedin FIG. 6A, the Bind operation 616 is the last operation in theInitialize Application process step 604 that is executed.

With reference now to FIG. 7B, the state of the graphical display 700subsequent to execution of the Bind operation 616 will be described. Inthis regard, FIG. 7B depicts the same button and input components702-708 described above with reference to FIG. 7A. However, afterexecution of the Bind operation 616, a set of task descriptions isdisplayed by the Input3 component 706. Specifically, the Input3component 706 is bound to description attributes of task elementsdefined in the “data/tasks.xml” document. Accordingly, after the Bindoperation 616 is executed, the values assigned to these taskdescriptions, as represented in the data model (e.g., document object710), are displayed in the Input3 component 706.

Upon execution of the Initialize Application process step 604, executionof application logic represented in the MyTasks.xml document 600 doesnot resume until the activation of a trigger. In this example, theMyTasks application defines a trigger 602 that directs the flow ofexecution to process step “2” when the Button1 component 702 experiencesa “select” event. Accordingly, the trigger 602 directs the flow ofexecution to the process step 606 entitled “Press Button” in response tothe Button1 component 702 being selected. In this example, the operation620 with the name attribute “decision” and the value attribute“#MyTasks#input4” is the operation in the Press Button process step 606that will be executed. Generally described, the decision operation 620performs a test to determine whether any text was entered into theInput4 component 708 when the Button1 component 702 was selected. Thelogic within the “<when>” XML element 622 directs the flow of executionto process step 608 if text was entered into the Input4 component 708when the Button1 component 702 was selected. Conversely, the decisionoperation 620 causes the flow of execution to proceed to process step610 if text was not entered in the Input4 component 708 upon theoccurrence of the trigger.

In the example when text is entered into Input4 component 708, the flowof execution proceeds to the “Add Task” process step 608. Accordingly,the operation 624 with the name attribute “change” and the valueattribute “data/tasks.xml” is the next operation that would be executed.The change operation 624 will cause a new task element with theappropriate description attribute to be added to the “data/tasks.xml”document. In this regard, the “<store>” XML element 626 within thechange operation 624 provides logic that causes the text entered in theInput4 component 708 to be stored in the description attribute of thenew task.

With reference now to FIG. 7C, the state of the graphical display 700subsequent to the entry of a new task and the selection of the Button1component 702 is depicted. Accordingly, FIG. 7C includes the samecomponents 702-708 as described above with reference to FIGS. 7A-B. Inthis example, the user entered the text “purchase airline tickets” intothe text area provided by the Input4 component 708. The change operation624 described above would add the value of this task description to the“data/tasks.xml” document utilizing the corresponding document object710. Since the Input3 component 706 is bound to a selection ofdescription attributes affected by the change operation 624, the list oftasks displayed by the Input3 component 706 is updated automatically inthe document object 710. In other words, developers do not have toprovide application code for handling the synchronization and exchangeof data between the Input3 component 706 and the data model.

In one aspect, the user may input a new task description into the Input4component 708 and update the task list by selecting the Button1component 702. Moreover, a user may modify the task descriptions bydirectly interacting with entries that are displayed in the Input3component 706. By way of example, the user may delete the “updatepresentation” task description currently being displayed by the Input3component 706. Since a data binding is defined, the deletion wouldautomatically propagate to the “data/tasks.xml” document. In thisregard, one or more components and/or local or remote applications maybe data listeners to the task descriptions represented in the“data/tasks.xml” document. Each of the local data listeners would benotified and updated by the document object 710 in response to the“update presentation” task being deleted. Significantly, the deletion ofthe task would propagate to the underlying data model and then to anydata listeners over the network without a developer being required toprovide application code for handling the data update.

With reference again to FIG. 6A, if text is not entered into Input4component 708 when the Button1 component 702 is selected, the flow ofexecution proceeds to the “Show Button” process step 610. Accordingly,the operation 628 with the name attribute “action” and the valueattribute “#MyTasks” is the next operation that would be executed.Generally described, execution of this Action operation 628 will causethe Button2 component 704 that was initially hidden (FIG. 7A) to bedisplayed. As represented in the MyTasks_gui.xml document 650, theButton2 component 704 would display a text string requesting that theuser provide a valid task description.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and others, theMyTasks application described with reference to FIGS. 6A-7C is a highlysimplified example of one application that may be used illustrateaspects of the present invention. Additional applications may be createdand executed in the network operating system environment. Accordingly,the examples and description made with reference to the MyTasksapplication herein should be construed as exemplary.

Programming languages used to develop modern applications (C++, Java™,Python™, etc.) have user interface components created and maintained inthe process logic of the application. In other words, a developerexplicitly provides the logic to create and set data on user interfacecomponents. Moreover, developers provide code in the application'sprocess logic to listen for events and otherwise monitor data changesthat affect the application's user interface. These event listenerscause data changes to be persisted between the user interface of anapplication and a domain-specific data structure. However, theinput/output between an application's user interface to the datastructure is not standardized. Accordingly, presentation of data on theapplication's user interface is tightly coupled to how the data isrepresented in the data structure. As a result, modifications to theuser interface or the data structure may affect other aspects of theapplication.

The network operating system provides an automated communication pathbetween the user interface and an underlying data model to supportexecution of applications that adhere to the MVC design paradigm. Inthis regard, developers may define a binding between a user interfacecomponent (sometimes referred to as a control or widget in otherprogramming environment languages) and the underlying data model. Dataupdates to the underlying data model and coordination of data changesthat affect components are managed by the present invention, therebysimplifying application development. As the description of the MyTasksapplication illustrates, if data represented in an underlying datadocument changes, any data bound components listening for changes areautomatically updated. More specifically, the bind operation 616 in theMyTasks application provides the application logic for binding theInput3 component 706 to a set of data represented in the data model.Accordingly, the deletion of the “update presentation” task from theunderlying data XML document is automatically propagated to listeningcomponents, including applications and components that are listening tothe same document over the network. Moreover, data bindings facilitateexchange and synchronization of data between user interface componentsboth locally and among remote clients over the network. By way ofexample, the change operation 624 in the MyTasks application providesthe application logic that updates the underlying data document withtext entered into the Input4 component 708. In this regard, the Input3component 706 is listening for changes to the underlying data document.The visual display of the Input3 component 706 is updated when text isentered into the Input4 component 708 and the trigger 602 is activated.In this example, the combination of data binding and the changeoperation 624 enables the synchronized exchange of data between userinterface components.

As described above, a binding provides an automated communication pathbetween a user interface component and the underlying data model. In oneaspect, the present invention allows binding to be shared and/ortransferred between user interface components. This aspect of thepresent invention is represented in FIGS. 8A-B, which depict components800 and 850 that are configured to display different visualrepresentations of a user's file system folders. Specifically, FIG. 8Adepicts a component 800 that is configured to display the user's foldersin a tree structure. If the user generates input requesting that thefolders be displayed as a list, the data binding of the component 800 tothe underlying data may be transferred to the component 850, which willalso transfer the state of the component 800. This example illustratesthat the present invention eliminates dependencies between therepresentation and processing of data from the configuration of the datamodel. Moreover, the transfer and sharing of data bindings not onlyprovides an automated communication path between application layers inaccordance with the MVC design paradigm, but also provides an enhancedplatform for developing applications.

The present invention provides a set of user interface components (i.e.,buttons, input boxes, drop-down boxes, display panels, and the like). Tofacilitate application development, a standard framework allowsapplications to be built from related user interface components. In thisregard, user interface components may inherit properties from a parentcomponent utilizing the UI XML language and therefore be combined toexpress more complex user interface elements. As a result, anapplication may include a set of related components organized in ahierarchical structure in which each component is aware of a relatedcomponent. Alternatively, a single user interface component may bedefined that represents the entire view of an application. In addition,a component API (Application Programming Interface) is provided thatallows developers to create new user interface components for use withthe present invention.

In one aspect, the present invention supports the development ofprocess-oriented applications using the process XML language. In thisregard, each process step in the MyTasks.xml document 600 representspart of the process execution flow. Operations within a process step maydefine a state change in the application being executed. Communicationsbetween processes are supported through the controlled access to datathat describes the runtime state of an application and through theutilization of messaging ports. Developers may reference views,components, and other runtime variables with expressions that utilizeglobally-named objects. In this regard, an expression language or commonway of referencing and manipulating objects is provided. Generallydescribed, the expression and process XML languages collectivelyabstract the complexities of executing multi-instance applications.Instead, developers may create an application as though the applicationwould only exist in a single instance of execution. As the MyTasks.xmldocument 600 illustrates (FIG. 6A), expressions are structured to becompatible with XML syntax and may be delimited or tagged for use withinother programming languages. When an expression is evaluated, the XMLvirtual machine performs the work of identifying, merging, and otherwisemanipulating the requested data in accordance with the receivedexpression. As a result, globally-named objects may be utilized bydevelopers in application code even though multiple runtime instances ofthe application are being executed.

The present invention provides a client-side component that isimplemented in a plurality of “classes” from which “objects” may beinstantiated. In other words, the client-side component may beimplemented using a programming language such as JavaScript thatutilizes object-oriented programming features. Alternatively, theinvention may be implemented using non-object oriented languages such asthe C programming language or any other language in which structures maybe represented as objects. As will be understood by those skilled in theart, objects created from a class typically include methods thatencapsulate or hide the algorithms that implement the object'sfunctionality. Instead of exposing these implementation details, objectsprovide interfaces by which other modules may access their functionalityas an abstraction. Accordingly, functionality that implements the XMLvirtual machine in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention occurs in the context of objects that utilizeobject-orientation and inheritance.

As mentioned previously, the client-side component serves as an XMLvirtual machine that executes applications written in languages thatadhere to the XML syntax. In an actual embodiment, the XML virtualmachine is configured to execute application code described semanticallyin a process modeling language (e.g., the process XML language), userinterface modeling language (e.g., the UI XML language) and anapplication package modeling language (e.g., the application package XMLlanguage). Significantly, the XML virtual machine may be extended tounderstand additional XML languages or XML-based applications to providefunctionality not described herein. Moreover, it should be wellunderstood that instead of executing programming logic using the XMLlanguages described herein, other embodiments are possible. For example,a JavaScript API or libraries could be used to build applicationsimplement the same functionality. Accordingly, the utilization ofXML-based languages is merely exemplary and the present invention couldbe implemented using traditional programming languages.

At any given time, an application being interpreted by the XML virtualmachine may be understood as being in a particular state of execution.The process XML language allows developers to define the conditions fortransitioning between states. Among other things, the XML virtualmachine implements functionality for managing the state transitions by(1) defining a set of runtime variables/objects that describe the stateof an executing application; (2) implementing logic that drives when atransition in the application state will occur, and (3) providinglow-level constructs that implement the appropriate change in theapplication state.

Now with reference to FIG. 9, aspects of the client-side component andthe classes and objects that implement the XML virtual machine will bedescribed. The client-side component includes a plurality of “managers”or objects that will typically be instantiated at start-up of theclient-side component of the network operating system and remain activethroughout a user session. As mentioned previously, objects provided bythe client-side component in accordance with an illustrative embodimentutilize object orientation and inheritance. In this regard, a systemcontext object 902 may be instantiated that serves as a placeholderwhere managers and other objects are embedded at runtime. Accordingly,the system context object 902 may be used to instantiate the managersdepicted in FIG. 9 including the application manager 904, processmanager 906, view manager 908, transaction manager 910, document manager912, and event manager 914.

Each manager typically performs a specific task that is exposed throughthe interface accessible from the system context object 902.Accordingly, other objects implemented by the present invention may calland utilize a manager's functionality to perform the desired task. Forexample, the process manager 906 may be called to instantiate a processobject in preparation of executing an application's process code. Inanother aspect, managers allow the controlled instantiation andcommunication between objects that provides the foundation forintra-application and intra-process security. While the descriptionherein may be provided with reference to particular managers and theassociated objects that a manager holds, those skilled in the art andothers will recognize that the encapsulation of functionality into aparticular type of manager is exemplary. In other embodiments, thefunctionality described herein with relation to particular managers andtheir corresponding objects may be performed without being encapsulatedor may be encapsulated in a different way than described. Moreover,object-oriented programming languages and features described herein aremerely illustrative, as other tools may be utilized without departingfrom the scope of the claimed subject matter.

As depicted in FIG. 9, the client-side component includes an applicationmanager 904 that provides logic for managing the lifecycle of anapplication. In this regard, functions are exposed by the applicationmanager 904 for creating, opening, and terminating applications. Anapplication may be represented internally as an application object that“registers” with the application manager 904. When an application isscheduled for execution, the application manager 904 may be called tocreate a corresponding application object. Accordingly, the applicationmanager 904 creates and holds references to all active applications inthe system.

As mentioned previously, attributes of one or more applications may bedescribed semantically by developers in an application package using theapplication package XML language. The attributes described in theapplication package include references to resources and system settingsthat are utilized by a particular application to execute. Resourcesidentified in the application package will typically include the XMLdocuments that provide the semantic description of an application's viewand process logic. In one aspect, the application manager 904 isconfigured to extract information from the appropriate applicationpackage and obtain the identified resources when an application isscheduled to execute. Alternatively, any XML data resource, including UIand process XML documents, may be directly embedded into an applicationpackage. In another aspect, functionality that allows applications tocontinue executing when the client goes “off-line” is implemented by theapplication manager 904. In this regard, the appropriate applicationpackage may be referenced by the application manager 904 to identify theresources utilized by a corresponding application. Then, any resourcesthat have not yet been cached locally are identified and obtained fromthe appropriate service provider.

The process manager 906 depicted in FIG. 9 is responsible for creatingand holding internal process objects that are used to execute processsteps in an application. As mentioned above, application logic writtenin the process XML language may define a sequence of process steps thateach include one or more operations. A process object created and heldby the process manager 906 is responsible for looping through andcausing one or more low-level constructs or operation handlers to becalled. Unlike traditional platforms, the conceptual foundation of thenetwork operating system is based on process-oriented operations thatmodel low-level constructs. Higher-level constructs that, for example,model workflows, product lifecycle management, user collaboration, andthe like, are constructed from these low-level constructs. By way ofexample, the set of operation handlers provided by the present inventionthat models low-level constructs includes, but is not limited to, anopen operation handler, bind operation handler, change operationhandler, decision operation handler, and the like. Moreover, anoperation API is provided that allows developers to define additionaloperation handlers. In this way, the XML virtual machine may be extendedto support and execute additional low-level constructs. On the otherhand, the operations that may be used in an application are limited tothose operations either created in accordance with the operation APIs orprovided by the present invention. As a result, the ability of users tocreate malware or otherwise implement malicious functionality isseverely restricted since only a limited and well-defined set ofoperations are available to execute application logic. On one hand,since there are only a limited number of ways to manipulate an XMLdocument, a relatively small number of operations need to be provided.Since XML is a very general language, any application or domain may bedescribed utilizing the language. Accordingly, the process XML languageand its corresponding operations provided by the present invention iscapable of describing any type of process logic and may be used todescribe any type of application.

In accordance with one embodiment, an instance object is provided by thepresent invention that tracks the “runtime state” of an executingapplication or instance. Those skilled in the art and others willrecognize that the runtime state of an executing application constantlyevolves as logic is executed. An instance object tracks and otherwisemanages the runtime state of an executing application and suppliescontext to other objects used to implement the XML virtual machine.Accordingly, instance objects couple operational meaning to theexecution of processes and their associated operations. As a result,even though the runtime state of an application instance is constantlychanging, operation handlers are provided with data that accounts forthese changes. In this way, the present invention supports dynamicexecution of application logic using process objects that are stateless.In other words, even though multiple instances of an application mayexist, only a single version of the application code is necessary,thereby saving memory.

As depicted in FIG. 9, the client-side component includes a view manager908 that is responsible for tracking the “views” or user interfacesassociated with an executing application. Methods are provided by theview manager 908 for creating an internal view object which is used torender and update an application's user interface. In accordance withthe MVC design paradigm, the user interface of an application may bedescribed semantically using the UI XML language. Accordingly, therelationships between components and other graphical attributes of theapplication's complete user interface may be represented in a UI XMLdocument. View objects instantiated and held by the view manager 908 areutilized in rendering user interfaces that are described semantically ina UI XML document. In one embodiment, the rendering of the userinterface may be performed through a series of XML transformations.However, those skilled in the art and others will recognize that a userinterface may be rendered without performing XML transformations and thedescription provided above should be construed as exemplary. In anyevent, the view manager 908 is configured to create view objects andholds reference to all active views in the system.

As depicted in FIG. 9, the client-side component includes a documentmanager 912 that is responsible for instantiating and holding referenceto document objects. As mentioned previously, XML documents are the datamodel that serves as a common data source in the network operatingsystem environment. Even application logic, system settings, applicationstates, and the like are represented in XML documents. In one aspect,the document manager 912 is responsible for causing documents to beloaded or cached in memory on a client computer. Accordingly, thedocument manager 912 may interact with other managers, such as thecommunication manager (described below), to obtain documents. Documentsmay be obtained from a remote network location using a communicationchannel or a channel can be established to access documents maintainedon a local hard drive or other non-volatile memory on a client computer.In another aspect, the document manager 912 serves as a client-sidecache tracking each document that is loaded into memory on a clientcomputer. When a document is obtained locally, an internal documentobject that provides a structured object-oriented representation of thedocument may be instantiated. In this regard, the document manager 912holds references to all document objects in the system and exposesmethods for creating, retrieving, saving, and renaming XML documents,among others.

The event manager 914 visually depicted in FIG. 9 serves as a triggerevent bus allowing aspects of the XML virtual machine to executeapplication logic in response to the activation of a trigger. On onehand, a process object may utilize a notifier object to register atrigger as a listener with the event manager 914. Other objects withinthe system such as component objects often register themselves directlyas listeners to the event manager 914. Among other things, the notifierobject receives and stores data that identifies the process step in anapplication that will be executed in response to the trigger beingactivated. Moreover, data provided by a notifier object associates thetrigger with an originating object (i.e., often a view or componentobject) where the trigger activation will originate. On the other hand,the event manager 914 allows objects (i.e., view or component objects)to push or otherwise notify registered listeners when a trigger isactivated. In this example, the component object will notify and passdata to the event manager 914. In response, the event manager 914 willperform a look-up to identify listeners for the activated event. Then,the appropriate notifier or other listening objects may be alerted andprovided with data that allows application execution to proceed to theappropriate process step. As described in further detail below, separateapplication instances may each use the same set of triggers and notifierobjects. Providing an event manager 914 and associated systems that areconfigured to re-use the same resources in this way both increasesperformance and minimizes the memory used.

As used herein, a “trigger” refers to the occurrence of a definedtriggering event that will cause application code to be executed.Accordingly, in the exemplary process XML document 600 described abovewith reference to FIG. 6A, the activation of a trigger 602 causes aparticular process step defined in the application code to be executed.In contrast to existing systems, triggers implemented by the presentinvention are not normally activated upon the occurrence of a dataupdate. In other words, other than specifying operations such as a databinding, developers are not required to provide logic for managing inputand output from an application user interface to the data model.Instead, data updates are managed by the present invention by a separatedata update notification event bus and do not correspond to theactivation of a trigger. As described in further detail below, aspectsof the present invention provides a separate event bus implemented inthe document object that automatically handles propagation of dataupdate events to components and other objects.

The transaction manager 910 also depicted in FIG. 9 provides aninterface for creating and propagating transactions used to update thecontents of an XML document. Accordingly, when a change to the datamodel will be performed, this will result in a transaction. In thisregard, a transaction represents a relative change and may berepresented as an XML data fragment that contains data used to implementor reverse a change to the data model. For example, in the MyTasksapplication described above with reference to FIG. 6A, the changeoperation 624 that adds a task to an underlying data XML document mayresult in the creation of a transaction. The data update reflected in atransaction may be persisted to the data model as well as to any remotelisteners. In one embodiment, the transaction manager 910 includesidentification and time stamping data when a transaction is created thatmay be used to “rollback” the data update represented in the transactionas well as identify the order in which transactions are generated.

Now with reference to FIG. 10A, an application initiation routine 1000will be described that performs processing to open an applicationpackage. The application initiation routine 1000 may be performed inresponse to a user generating a command to launch an application. Asmentioned previously, aspects of the present invention may provide adesktop environment in which users launch applications through theselection of a menu item, icon, and the like. In response to receivingthis type of command, a data type recognizer within the system contextobject 902 may be passed a URL that identifies the location of adocument associated with an application package, XML document, or binaryfile. As described in further detail below, the data type recognizer isutilized in numerous ways to identify and associate actions withparticular types of documents. In any event, the application initiationroutine 1000 may be performed when the data type recognizer determinesthat a document that corresponds to an application package (e.g.,application package XML document) is being opened.

In the application initiation routine 1000 depicted in FIG. 10A, theapplication manager 904 is utilized to instantiate an application objectat block 1002. Multiple application objects that each represent adifferent application may be instantiated and held by the applicationmanager 904. On this iteration through the application initiationroutine 1000, a first application object may be instantiated that, forexample, represents a word processing program. On a different iterationthrough the application initiation routine 1000, a second applicationobject that represents a different program (e.g., an e-mail program) maybe instantiated. By controlling the instantiation and access toapplication objects, process logic associated with one application isunable to access the internal objects (e.g., view objects, instanceobject, process object, etc.) that are associated with a differentapplication. Accordingly, when executing the process logic of the wordprocessing program, a view object associated with the e-mail applicationpackage is inaccessible. As described in further detail below, the useof the application manager 904 to instantiate and hold applicationobjects is part of a larger framework provided by the present inventionthat insures both intra-application and intra-process security.

At block 1004, the resources of an application being opened as specifiedin a corresponding application package are obtained. Logic in anapplication package formed in accordance with the present inventionprovides the overall blueprint of the resources and settings of anapplication. Accordingly, an application package XML document mayidentify process and UI XML documents associated with an application, aswell as other application resources such as images, data documents, XSLTdocuments, among others. Resources utilized by an application, includingthe application package XML document itself, may be cached in memory onthe client or obtained from a service provider utilizing a communicationchannel (described below). In addition to resource and settingsmanagement, the application package XML language allows developers toconfigure application packages in more advanced ways. By way of exampleonly, conditional logic in an application package XML document may beused to implement a more fault-tolerant network service in whichresources can be obtained from a failover network location. In the eventthat a primary network location is unavailable, the application packagecan identify alternative network locations where the resources may beobtained. However, this is just one example of the way the presentinvention allows developers to configure an application package usingthe package XML language.

As further illustrated in FIG. 10A, at decision block 1006, theapplication initiation routine 1000 determines whether additionalruntime instance(s) of the application is permitted. The applicationpackage XML language allows developers to establish configurations tolimit the number of application instances that may be created.Accordingly, the determination made at block 1006 may be dependent onconfigurations defined in an application package XML document. If thedetermination is made, at block 1006, that an additional instance is notpermitted, then the application initiation routine 1000 proceeds toblock 1008 where the command to launch an application that does notallow an additional instance is handled. In this regard, handling thecommand at block 1008 may include refreshing an existing runtimeinstance of the application. In addition or alternatively, handling thecommand may include informing the user through a dialogue that anadditional instance of the application is not permitted. Then, uponhandling the command, the application initiation routine 1000 proceedsto block 1014, where it terminates.

On the other hand, if a determination is made at block 1006 that anadditional instance of the application is permitted, the applicationinitiation routine 1000 proceeds to block 1010. At block 1010, aninstance object is instantiated that tracks and manages the runtimestate of the application being launched. When process and view objectsare created, aspects of the present invention associate these objectswith their corresponding instance. The instance object instantiated atblock 1010 maintains structures for tracking process and view objects,aliases, and other runtime variables. Accordingly, process and viewobjects associated with this application instance will be known to theinstance object. Through the controlled instantiation and referencing ofobjects, a localized relationship hierarchy may be established thatdelimits the boundary of an application instance. As described infurther detail below, this framework associates process and view objectswith a corresponding instance and delimits access to these objects fromoutside the localized relationship hierarchy.

The context provided by the instance object instantiated at block 1010allows functionality to be implemented relative to an application'sruntime state. In one aspect, the instance object instantiates and holdsa local expression engine for evaluating expressions encountered inapplication code being interpreted. A process object may utilize acorresponding instance object and a local expression engine that theinstance holds to evaluate expressions. Moreover, the instance objectinstantiated at block 1010 may be supplied when executing operations inorder to couple operational meaning to the execution of process logic.

As further illustrated in FIG. 10A, at block 1012, the applicationobject instantiated at block 1002 is utilized to open and initiateexecution of an application's process and view logic. Routines foropening and initiating execution of logic in process and UI XMLdocuments are described below and will not be provided here.Significantly, each time an application associated with an applicationpackage is launched, a new instance object will be supplied to track theruntime state of the application. For example, an application objectthat represents a word processing program will supply a differentinstance object each time an instance of the word processing applicationis launched. By utilizing the application object in this way, aspects ofthe present invention are able to control access to objects that areassociated with an executing application. Then, the applicationinitiation routine 1000 proceeds to block 1014, where it terminates.

Now with reference to FIG. 10B, the utilization of application objectsto encapsulate applications and provide intra-application security willbe described in additional detail. When an application from anapplication package is launched, the application manager 904instantiates an application object that provides an encapsulatedrepresentation of the application. As illustrated in FIG. 10B, theapplication manager 904 may instantiate the Application Object A 1030,Application Object B 1032, and Application Object Nth 1034. In oneembodiment, an application object is utilized to instantiate and holdone or more instance objects. In the example depicted in FIG. 10B, theApplication Object A 1030 may instantiate and hold the Instance ObjectA1 1036, Instance Object A2 1038, and Instance Object A-Nth 1040.Similarly, the Application Object B 1032 may instantiate and hold theInstance Object B1 1042 and the Instance Object B-Nth 1044. In thisregard, a unidirectional solid arrow between objects depicted in FIG.10B indicates that the source object where the arrow originates holdsthe destination object identified by the arrow pointer. Accordingly, thesolid arrow from the application manager 904 to the application objects1030-1034 indicates that these objects are held by application manager904. From the illustration in FIG. 10B, the relationship between theapplication manager 904, application objects 1030-1034, and theircorresponding instance objects 1036-1044 is apparent.

The relationship between objects depicted in FIG. 10B illustrate how thepresent invention is able to ensure intra-application security. Accessto application objects is controlled by the application manager 904which exposes methods for creating, opening, and terminatingapplications. When an application object is instantiated, theapplication manager 904 isolates the application object into a separatememory space. By preventing application objects from sharing a memoryspace, code from one application may not be injected into or otherwiseaffect the memory space allocated to a different application. Moreover,an application object provides an encapsulated representation of anapplication in which internal data associated with the application maybe hidden. All of the functionality of the application and access tointernal data is controlled through the creation of exposed methods. Byisolating and encapsulating applications in this way, the internalobjects (e.g., view objects, instance object, process object, etc.)associated with one application are rendered inaccessible to a differentapplication. Accordingly, when executing code utilizing the ApplicationObject A 1030, internal objects associated with the Application Object B1032 may not be accessed. Even though the internal data of anapplication may not be accessed, data may be shared utilizing theunderlying data model. Accordingly, if a user has sufficient accessrights, a document may be shared by multiple applications. In otherwords, the intra-application security framework provided by the presentinvention does not prevent the authorized sharing of data betweenapplications using the underlying data model.

Now with reference to FIG. 10C, the utilization of instance objects toimplement a localized relationship hierarchy will be described inadditional detail. By defining a localized relationship hierarchy,aspects of the present invention allow multi-instance applications to besecurely executed. The illustration in FIG. 10C includes the applicationobject 1050 and instance object 1052. In addition, FIG. 10C depicts aprocess object 1054, view object 1056, component object 1058, and adialog object 1060 that are instantiated when an application's processand UI XML documents are opened. In one embodiment, the applicationobject 1050 supplies the instance object 1052 when initiating executionof an application. The dashed unidirectional arrows originating from theapplication object 1050 to the view object 1056 and process object 1054indicate that these objects were created within the localizedrelationship hierarchy that is specific to the supplied instance object1052. In this regard, the instance object 1052 maintains a MiniViewmanager 1062 and a MiniProcess manager 1064. When an application'sprocess XML document is opened, the instance object 1052 is providedwith a reference to the resulting process object 1054 that is trackedusing the MiniProcess manager 1064. Similarly, the view object 1056 thatresults when an application view is opened is supplied to the instanceobject 1052 and held by the MiniView manager 1062. Accordingly, theupdates to the MiniProcess manager 1064 and MiniView manager 1062 allowthe instance object 1052 to track and identify objects that areassociated with a particular application instance.

Throughout the code that describes the logic of an application,developers may utilize globally-named objects to define theapplication's logic. These globally-named objects may be referenced inaccordance with an expression language provided by the presentinvention. However, global names assigned to objects in application codemay reference runtime objects that belong to different instances. Forexample, the following expression may be used in application code toreference the view object 1056: “#MyTasks.” In addition, the followingexpression may be used to reference a component object (e.g., Button)that is created within the context of the aforementioned view object1056: “#MyTasks#button1.” To avoid ambiguity and enforce security,aspects of the present invention implement functionality that allowsglobally-named objects encountered in application code to be evaluatedrelative to the appropriate instance. In this regard, the evaluation ofglobally-named objects is performed without creating duplicate processor UI XML documents. Instead, an application's process and UI documentsare shared and used to build the runtime objects for multipleapplication instances. As will be clear in the description that follows,the implementation of a localized relationship hierarchy provides abasis for identifying and/or supplying the appropriate instance whenexpressions are evaluated and accessing the appropriate view objectwithin the instance.

In the example depicted in FIG. 10C, a bidirectional arrow is depictedbetween the instance object 1052 and the view object 1056. On one hand,the bidirectional arrow indicates that the instance object 1052 is awarethat the view object 1056 is associated with this particular applicationinstance. Upon being instantiated, the view object 1056 may be suppliedto the instance object 1052 and held by the MiniView manager 1062. Onthe other hand, an identifier for the instance object 1052 is suppliedwhen an application view is created so that the view object 1056 isaware of its associated instance. As a result, the appropriate instancemay be identified when input is received that will cause a data updateor application logic to be executed. For example, the component object1058 may be instantiated when the view object 1056 is used to open anapplication view. Since the component object 1058 is created within thecontext of an application view, it may communicate with the view object1056. As a result, the component object 1058 may identify theappropriate instance object 1052 when, for example, a user providesinput that will cause application code to be executed.

In the example depicted in FIG. 10C, a unidirectional arrow is depictedbetween the instance object 1052 and the process object 1054. In oneembodiment, the process steps in an application are executed using theprocess object 1052. Through the utilization and updating of theMiniProcess manager 1064, the instance object 1052 is aware of itsassociated process object 1054. However, process objects provided by thepresent invention are stateless between execution of process steps. As aresult, process objects are supplied with the context from a singleinstance object 1052. In other words, the process object 1052 is notaware of an associated instance object 1052 between execution of processsteps. However, the process object 1054 may utilize the services of anexpression engine (described below) that is held by a supplied instanceobject 1052. The localized relationship hierarchy depicted in FIG. 10Cand the associated description illustrates how the present invention isable to ensure intra-process security while still supportingmulti-instance applications. When iterating through the operations in aprocess step, the process object 1054 may only be supplied context fromone instance object 1052. This framework in which relationships areestablished, so that the process object 1054 is supplied context from asingle instance object 1052, allows a strict separation between objectsassociated with different instances. Accordingly, when executingapplication code, the process object 1054 is not able to access objectsthat are in the localized relationship hierarchy of a differentinstance.

Aspects of the present invention are able to create sub-instances withina localized relationship hierarchy established by a parent instance. Inthis embodiment, the sub-instance and its resulting sub-view object andsub-process objects are created within a localized relationshiphierarchy of the parent instance. The localized relationship hierarchydelineated by the sub-instance is visible to objects created within therelationship hierarchy of the parent instance. However, runtime objectsthat are created within the sub-instance are not aware of objectsassociated with the parent instance or other sub-instances. This abilityto nest sub-instances within a parent instance offers great flexibilityto application developers in building more modular code as well as theability to utilize different scopes.

Now with reference to FIG. 11, a process initiation routine 1100 foropening and initiating execution of logic defined in an application'sprocess code will be described. The process initiation routine 1100 maybe performed when a call to open a document that contains process logicis generated. In one embodiment, calls to open a file may be issued tothe data type recognizer that receives a URL from a calling object. TheURL passed to the data type recognizer may correspond to any type ofdocument including, but not limited to, an application package XMLdocument, process XML document, or UI XML document. When opening adocument that contains process logic, the data type recognizer may causeparticular actions to be performed that facilitate applicationexecution. In the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 11, the datatype recognizer determines that the supplied document is a process XMLdocument and causes actions that are specific to this file type to beperformed.

The process initiation routine 1100 depicted in FIG. 11 illustrates twoexemplary circumstances in which a process XML document may be opened.However, the examples provided below should be construed as exemplary asprocess XML documents may be opened in other circumstances withoutdeparting from the scope of the claimed subject matter. As illustratedin FIG. 11, the process initiation routine 1100 begins either at block1102 or block 1104. In an exemplary embodiment, the routine 1100 beginsat block 1102 where the data type recognizer receives a call to open aprocess XML document that is associated with an application package. Inthis embodiment, an application object supplies a previously createdinstance object in the call received at block 1102. As described infurther detail below, the process initiation routine 1100 willinstantiate a process object in anticipation of executing process stepsdefined in the process XML document. A reference to this process objectmay later be provided to the corresponding instance that is supplied inthe call received at block 1102.

In an alternative embodiment, the process initiation routine 1100 beginsat block 1104 where the data type recognizer receives a call to open aprocess XML document that represents a stand-alone application.Applications are not required to be associated with an applicationpackage. In this embodiment, the data type recognizer does not receive asupplied instance at block 1104 in the call to open the process XMLdocument. Applications that are configured to be stand-alone in this waydo not support multiple instances of execution and allow applications toshare at least some memory space.

At block 1106, processing is performed by the data type recognizer toidentify the file-type of the document that will be opened. In thisexample, the analysis performed by the data type recognizer willdetermine that the document associated with the received call is aprocess XML document. As mentioned previously, the data type recognizermay associate actions with a particular file type. Upon encountering arequest to open a process XML document, the data type recognizer isconfigured to call the process manager 906, at block 1108, indicatingthat request to open a process XML document has been received.

At decision block 1110, logic within the process manager 906 determineswhether a process object for this process XML document is cached inmemory. In one aspect, the process initiation routine 1100 isresponsible for instantiating a new process object when an applicationis initially launched. Once instantiated, logic is implemented by theprocess initiation routine 1100 that enables the newly instantiatedprocess object to execute a process step. Since the process object isstateless, it may be reused. As such, the same process object may beused to execute application code from the same instance of anapplication package or other processes embedded in the process XMLdocument. Accordingly, the process object instantiated when anapplication is launched may be cached in memory by the process manager906. If the process manager 906 previously instantiated a process objectfor this application that is still in memory, the result of the testperformed at block 1110 is “yes,” and the process initiation routine1100 proceeds to block 1120, described in further detail below.Conversely, if a determination is made that a new process object will beinstantiated, the process initiation routine 1100 proceeds to block1112. Before the new process object is instantiated, the process XMLdocument being opened should be available locally. To this end, theprocess manager 904 generates a call that is routed through the documentmanager 912 to obtain the appropriate process XML document at block1112.

At block 1114, a determination is made regarding whether the process XMLdocument being requested by the process manager 904 is loaded intomemory of the client computing device. As mentioned previously, thedocument manager 912 serves as a client-side cache, tracking eachdocument that is loaded in memory on the client. If a determination ismade that the process XML document being opened is referenced in theclient-side cache maintained by the document manager 912, then theprocess initiation routine 1100 proceeds to block 1118, described infurther detail below. Conversely, if the requested process XML documentis not loaded in the client-side cache, the process initiation routine1100 proceeds to block 1116, where the document manager 912 causes therequested process XML document to be obtained from a service provider.More specifically, at block 1116, the document manager 912 utilizes thecommunication manager (described below) to request that the appropriateprocess XML document be obtained from a network location identified by asupplied URL.

Once the process XML document is available from the client-side cache, anew process object is instantiated at block 1118. Specifically, logicwithin the process manager 904 is utilized to instantiate a new processobject in anticipation of executing application code. Then, the newprocess object is registered at block 1120 as a listener on itscorresponding process XML document. As described in further detailbelow, by registering as a listener on a document in the data model, anobject may be notified and take certain action when a specified dataupdate to the document is performed.

At block 1122, notifier objects are instantiated for each trigger in theapplication. Specifically, parsing may be performed to identify thetrigger elements defined in the process XML document being opened. Byway of example, the MyTasks application defines a trigger 602 (FIG. 6A)that would result in a notifier object being instantiated at block 1122.Triggers may be defined as elements in a process XML document with eachtrigger including the view, component, event, and step attributes. Thevalue assigned to the view and component attributes identifies theapplication view and/or component where the trigger will be activated.Similarly, the value assigned to the event attribute identifies the typeof event that will activate the trigger. Moreover, the value assigned tothe step attribute identifies the process step in the application'sprocess code where execution will be directed in response to thetrigger. For each trigger in an application, logic within the processmanager 906 instantiates a notifier object and caches data in thenotifier object that may be subsequently used to execute a particularprocess step.

As further illustrated in FIG. 11, each trigger defined in anapplication is registered with the event manager 914 at block 1124. Inone embodiment, the event manager 914 maintains an internal hash datastructure that associates a set of trigger data with listening notifierobjects. Accordingly, triggers may be registered by updating the hashdata structure maintained by the event manager 914. As described infurther detail below, the event manager 914 notifies the appropriatelistening objects and notifier objects when an event that matches aregistered event for a component and event type occurs.

As further illustrated at FIG. 11, a determination is made at block 1126regarding whether a new instance will be instantiated. When opening aprocess XML document, the instance may be supplied. Specifically, theapplication initiation routine 1000 described above may instantiate andsupply the instance when opening a process XML document. Also, instancesmay be supplied in other circumstances in order to support modularapplication development and for different processes to share context. Inthese embodiments, a new instance will not be instantiated, and theprocess initiation routine 1100 proceeds to block 1130, described infurther detail below. Conversely, if an instance object was notsupplied, the process initiation routine 1100 proceeds to block 1128,where an instance object is instantiated. Specifically, logic within theprocess manager 906 generates a call to instantiate the new instanceobject at block 1128.

At block 1130, a call to execute a process step defined in a process XMLdocument is generated. In an actual embodiment, a process object isconfigured to cause a process step to be executed based on two receivedparameters: (1) a supplied instance representing the runtime state of anapplication; and (2) the identifier of the process step that will beexecuted. In this regard, the instance that is supplied to the processobject may be created within the context of an application package or astand-alone application. In either embodiment, the process initiationroutine 1100 is configured to provide a process object with parametersthat allow the process object to be re-used for multiple instances inexecuting each process step defined in the process XML document. Then,the process initiation routine 1100 proceeds to block 1132, where itterminates.

When a process step will be executed, flow of control is directed to anexecute method encoded within a process object. Generally described, theexecute method loops through and causes each operation defined in aprocess step to be executed. In other words, the execute method is theinterface to the process operations developed in accordance with theprocess operation API. As such, the execute method could be called bythe process initiation routine 1100 in order to execute process step “1”defined in the MyTasks application. In response, the execute methodwould perform processing that causes the Open, Bind, and Actionoperations 612-616 within this process step 604 to be executed.

Now, with reference to FIGS. 12A-B, an execute method 1200 will bedescribed that is configured to cause operations in a process step to beexecuted. As illustrated in FIG. 12A, the execute method 1200 begins atblock 1202 where a new operation within a process step is identified. Inone embodiment, operations within a process step are typicallyidentified and executed sequentially. Upon encountering a new operation,an expression provided in the value attribute of the operation isselected for evaluation at block 1203. For example, in the MyTasksapplication described above, the MyTasks document 600 (FIG. 6A) definesan Initialize Application process step 604. Within this process step604, the first operation is an Open operation 612 having a valueattribute “apps/mytasks_gui.xml.” On this iteration through the executemethod 1200, the expression “apps/mytasks_gui.xml” would be selected forevaluation at block 1203.

The descriptions made with reference to FIG. 12 provides examples inwhich operations within a process step are executed sequentially.However, aspects of the present invention support asynchronous executionof operations so that each operation in a process step may not beexecuted sequentially. For example, if a first operation requested aresource that is only available from a remote network location, otheroperations (that are not dependent on the results of the firstoperation) may be executed while the resource is obtainedasynchronously.

As further illustrated in FIG. 12A, the expression selected forevaluation at block 1203 is evaluated into an XBind at block 1204. Asused herein, an XBind is a data type that comprises a URL, base path(e.g., an XPath expression that references an XML fragment within thedocument identified by the specified URL), and a selection (e.g., aplurality of XPath expressions). In the exemplary Open operation 612defined in the MyTasks application, the “apps/mytasks_gui.xml”expression would be evaluated into the following XBind, at block 1204:

URL=apps/mytasks_gui.xml

Base path=/

Selection=

The URL of this XBind references the UI XML document that provides thesemantic description of the application's user interface. While theexamples provided herein utilize a URL as the format for identifyingresources this should be construed as exemplary. Any system that iscapable of uniquely identifying a resource may be implemented inconjunction with the present invention. As described in further detailbelow, the network operating system provides protocols and abstractionsfor accessing an XML file system, databases, and XML web services usingURLs. However, it is contemplated that other protocols could be used toidentify resource locations other than URLs. The base path of the aboveXBind is “/” which references the root element of the UI XML documentidentified in the URL. When opening an application view, the base pathcould reference a fragment within a UI XML document. In this instance,the semantic description of the view logic is not associated with theroot node of the UI XML document. Accordingly, the XBind for thisvariation would include a base path referencing the node thatcorresponds to the view logic. The selection for this exemplary XBind is“null” as it does not contain data. Once the expression has beenevaluated, the execute method 1200 proceeds to block 1206, described infurther detail below.

With reference now to FIG. 12B, an interchange that occurs when anexpression is evaluated will be described. The illustration in FIG. 12Bincludes a set of objects that include the instance object 1250, theprocess object 1252, and the view object 1254. Similar to thedescription provided above with reference to FIG. 10C, the dashed arrowsdepicted in FIG. 12B indicate that the process and view objects1252-1254 were previously associated with the localized relationshiphierarchy that is specific to the instance object 1250. Within theexecute method 1200, the process object 1252 may utilize the instanceobject 1250 to evaluate an encountered expression. Since the instanceobject 1250 is supplied when execution of a process step is initiated,the process object 1252 may utilize the instance object 1250 within theprocess step in order to have the expression evaluated by the expressionengine 1260.

In one embodiment, the present invention implements an expression engine1260 configured to evaluate expressions within the context provided bythe instance. Specifically, functionality encapsulated in the expressionengine 1260 may be used within the context of the instance object 1250to evaluate the expression 1262 into the XBind 1264, XML formatted data,or plain text. Once evaluated, the XBind 1264 identified by theexpression engine 1260 may be passed from the instance object 1250 tothe process object 1252. By utilizing the instance object 1250 toinstantiate and hold the local expression engine 1260, evaluation ofexpressions is readily performed relative to the context supplied by theinstance or any sub-instance. Among other things, utilizing a localexpression engine 1260 in this way allows instance and scope handling tobe performed within a multiple chained scope depth. Accordingly,expressions may be evaluated differently, depending on the applicationinstance that is executing, and developers are not required to accountfor the complexity of managing multiple instances or scopes. Additionaldescriptions of the functionalities implemented within the expressionengine 1260 and the types of expressions that may be evaluated by thepresent invention will be described in further detail below. In thisregard, the expression engine 1260 may be used to evaluate multipleexpressions defined within an operation. Each of these expressionswithin the operation is evaluated before an operation handler is called,as described in further detail below.

With reference again to FIG. 12A, the execute method 1200 initiatesexecution of the appropriate operation handler at block 1206. Asmentioned previously, a plurality of operation handlers are provided bythe present invention. Each operation handler implements functionalityspecific to the type of operation that may be encountered. Accordingly,if the current operation is an open operation, then the execute method1200 calls an open operation handler at block 1206. However, otheroperation handlers are implemented (Bind, Decision, Action, Change,etc.) that may be called within the execute method 1200. Accordingly,the execute method 1200 is configured to pass arguments that areappropriate for the particular operation handler being called using awell-defined process operation APIs, which will be discussed in theexamples below. However, each operation handler is supplied with atleast instance and process objects and an evaluated XBind when called.

At decision block 1208, the execute method 1200 determines whetheradditional operations in a process step will be executed. Accordingly,if all of the operations in the current process step were not previouslyexecuted, the execute method 1200 proceeds back to block 1202, andblocks 1202-1208 repeat until each operation has been executed.Significantly, a process step may include a statement that directs theflow of application execution. For example, a “call” statement may bedefined as a statement in a process step that directs the flow ofexecution to a different process step once all of the operations in thecurrent process step have been executed. More generally, a “call”operation is provided that allows developers to direct the flow ofexecution between operations of one process step to a different processstep. When a “call” operation is defined, flow proceeds to the newprocess step and, upon completion, returns to a location within theoriginating process step. In an actual embodiment, asynchronous calls,time delay calls and time repeated interval calls may be generated usingthe “call” operation. Then, once all of the operations have beenexecuted, the execute method 1200 proceeds to block 1210, where itterminates.

As mentioned above, the execute method 1200 initiates execution ofparticular operation handlers when interpreting application logic. Withcontinuing reference to the MyTasks application described above, thefunctionality implemented by particular operation handlers will bedescribed. Since an operation handler implements a state change, alldata that an operation handler utilizes is supplied. Moreover, aspectsof the present invention are configured so that operation handlers donot return data. As such, operation handlers may be implemented asstand-alone functions that are supplied with everything used to executewithout returning data. Accordingly, process operations in anapplication may be executed locally. However, since operation handlersare stand-alone functions, they may be provided as a Web service, from aserver-side data center.

Now with reference to FIG. 13, an exemplary open handling routine 1300that utilizes an open operation handler will be described. In theexemplary MyTasks application described above (FIG. 6A), the applicationdefines an Open operation 612 having a value attribute that may beevaluated to an XBind within the execute method 1200 (FIG. 12A).Accordingly, an open operation handler may be called to execute the openoperation 612. In one embodiment, arguments may be passed in the call tothe open operation handler that include a previously evaluated XBind andthe appropriate instance and process objects.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, at block 1302, the data type recognizer iscalled within the open operation handler to open a document. Asmentioned above, a previously evaluated XBind may point to a document orfragment (node) within a document that is being opened. Among otherthings, the open operation handler passes this previously evaluatedXBind that identifies the document being opened in the call to the datatype recognizer. Upon receiving the call, the data type recognizerperforms processing at block 1304 to identify the file type of thedocument referenced in the received XBind. In the exemplary MyTasksapplication, the XBind passed to the data type recognizer references thedocument entitled “MyTasks_gui.xml.” In this example, the data typerecognizer would identify the file type as being an UI XML document. Asmentioned previously, logic is provided within the data type recognizerthat associates actions with particular file types. An exemplary set ofactions initiated when the data type recognizer is utilized to open a UIXML document are described below.

At block 1306 of the open handling routine 1300, the data typerecognizer passes a command to the view manager 908 indicating that arequest to open an UI XML document has been received. Specifically, theview manager 908 is called to create a view object that will be used torender a new user interface or application view. As mentionedpreviously, the user interface of an application may be describedsemantically in an UI XML document (e.g., “MyTasks_gui.xml”). In thisregard, multiple view objects may be associated with each applicationinstance. Accordingly, in the call to the view manager 908, theidentifier of the appropriate instance and the UI XML document thatdescribes the new view may be supplied by the data type recognizer.

As further illustrated in FIG. 13 at block 1308, execution of logic thatprovides the semantic description of a new application view isinitiated. As mentioned previously, the view manager 908 is responsiblefor instantiating a view object and performing tasks that allow anapplication view described in a UI XML document to be rendered. Torender a new application view, component and dialog objects areinstantiated utilizing a view object. As described in further detailbelow with reference to FIG. 23, these objects provided by the presentinvention implement functionality that allow graphical elementsdescribed semantically in a UI XML document to be rendered on a computerdisplay. Then, the open handling routine 1300 proceeds to block 1310,where it terminates.

Now with reference to FIGS. 14A-14B, the utilization of a data typerecognizer in opening process and UI XML documents will be described inadditional detail. The illustration in FIG. 14A depicts the processobject 1400, open operation handler 1402, data type recognizer 1404,instance object 1406, view manager 908, and the view object 1408 thatinteract when an UI XML document is opened. Accordingly, the blockdiagram depicted in FIG. 14A may correspond to the objects that areutilized by the open operation handling routine 1300 described abovewith reference to FIG. 13. The opening of an application view may beinitiated by the process object 1400, which calls the open operationhandler 1402 to open a particular document identified by an evaluatedXBind. Upon receiving the call, the open operation handler 1402 utilizesthe data-type recognizer 1404 to identify a file type and cause theappropriate actions to be performed. In the embodiment when a UI XMLdocument is passed from the open operation handler 1402 to the data typerecognizer 1404, actions are defined that facilitate opening andinitiating execution of an application's view logic. Moreover, the datatype recognizer 1404 is utilized to associate the resulting view object1408 with the appropriate instance object 1406.

In the example depicted in FIG. 14A, the view manager 908 is called bythe data type recognizer 1404 when a call to open a UI XML document isreceived. In order to open and execute logic in an UI XML document, theview manager 908 instantiates and supplies the view object 1408 anidentifier of the instance object 1406 and an XBind referencing theappropriate UI XML document. By passing data in this way, the viewobject 1408 becomes aware of its associated instance. Once the viewobject 1408 is instantiated, execution of logic that provides thesemantic description of the new application view is initiated utilizingfunctionality that is similar to the process initiation routine 1100(FIG. 11) described above. Specifically, the view manager 908 may causethe appropriate UI XML to be loaded into the client-side cache. Then,the view object 1408 may be instantiated and used to render anapplication's user interface components and dialogs. However, unlikeprocesses, multiple view objects may be instantiated and associated withthe same instance.

In an actual embodiment, aspects of the present invention support lazyloading and/or rendering of an applications' UI logic. To this end,XLinks implemented in accordance with a standard defined by the WorldWide Web Consortium may be utilized to perform lazy loading and/orrendering of one or more UI XML documents. Those skilled in the art andothers will recognize that an XLink may be included in an XML documentthat describes a link between different XML resources. Unliketraditional HTML-based hyperlinks that provide meaning to users inlinking Web pages, XLinks are more readily interpreted by softwaresystems and computers. Significantly, XLinks may contain logic thatdefines the conditions that will activate the XLink as well as theactions to be taken upon the activation. As a result, XLinks arewell-suited for performing on-demand and/or lazy rendering of anapplications UI logic. Instead of loading all of an applications' UIlogic when an the application is launched, XLinks may be defined forlinking to the appropriate XML resource on demand. For example, in theexemplary MyTasks application described above, the Button2 component 704is “hidden” after all of the applications' user interface logic isloaded and rendered. Equivalent functionality and improved performancemay be achieved by using an XLink to load and/or render the UI logic ofthe Button2 component 704 when needed. In this example, the userinterface logic associated with the Button2 component 704 in theMyTasks_gui.xml document 650 may include an XLink that references alocal or remote resource (e.g., another UI XML document) that definesthe relevant user interface logic. When dictated by application logic,this XLink may be used to load and/or render the UI logic correspondingto the Button2 component 704.

Once the open operation handler 1402 completes, the resulting viewobject 1408 is returned to the data type recognizer 1404. Then, the datatype recognizer 1404 associates the view object 1408 with theappropriate instance. Specifically, when a new application view iscreated, the data type recognizer 1404 passes the resulting view object1408 to the instance object 1406. In response, the MiniView manager 1412is updated, thereby associating the view object 1408 with acorresponding instance. A more complex name is assigned to the viewobject 1408 within the View manager 908 than is allocated to the sameobject by the MiniView manager 1412. Specifically, the name assigned tothe view object 1408 within the View manager 908 includes the identifierof the corresponding instance object 1406. As described in furtherdetail below, by implementing a system for naming objects in this way,the same view may be differentiated between multiple applicationinstances. By controlling the passing of data in this way, aspects ofthe present invention implement localized relationship hierarchies thatdelimit the bounds of an application instance.

Now with reference to FIG. 14B, the utilization of the data typerecognizer 1404 in opening a process XML document will be described inadditional detail. Similar to FIG. 14A, the illustration in FIG. 14Bdepicts the process object 1400, data type recognizer 1404, instanceobject 1406, as well as the process manager 906. Accordingly, the blockdiagram depicted in FIG. 14B may correspond to the objects utilized bythe process initialization routine 1100 (FIG. 11). When a process XMLdocument is opened, the data type recognizer 1404 is utilized either inthe context of an application package or stand-alone application toidentify the file type of the document. In this example, the data typerecognizer 1404 defines actions that facilitate opening and initiatingexecution of logic described in the process XML document. Specifically,flow of execution proceeds from the data type recognizer 1404 to theprocess manager 906 which instantiates the process object 1400. Once aprocess XML document has been opened, a reference to the resultingprocess object 1400 may be returned to the data type recognizer 1404.Then, the data type recognizer 1404 supplies the instance object 1406with a reference to the resulting process object 1400. In response, theMiniProcess manager 1414 is updated, thereby associating the processobject 1400 with a corresponding instance.

With reference to FIGS. 15A-B, an action operation that provides anexample regarding the use of the MiniView manager in facilitatingprocess execution will be described. Once the Open operation 612 in theMyTasks application has been executed, flow of execution proceeds to theAction operation 614 (FIG. 6A). In this regard, an action handlingroutine 1500 will be described with reference to FIGS. 15A-B whichillustrates both the logic as well as the interactions between objectsinvolved in implementing the routine 1500.

As illustrated in FIG. 15A, the expression represented in the valueattribute of the Action operation 614 is evaluated into an XBind, atblock 1502. In the exemplary MyTasks application, the Action operation614 contains a value attribute of “#MyTasks” which would be evaluatedinto an XBind at block 1502. With specific reference now to FIG. 15B,functionality encapsulated in the expression engine 1550 may be used bythe instance object 1552 to evaluate the “#MyTasks” expression into anXBind. In this example, the expression engine 1550 is configured toperform a lookup in the MiniView manager 1554 for the view object thatis named “MyTasks.” When a new application view is created, theresulting view object is passed to a corresponding instance whichupdates the MiniView manager 1554 accordingly. In this regard, theMyTasks view object is assigned a straightforward name within theMiniView manager 1554 held by the instance than the more complexidentifier used for the views in the global View Manager 908. The morecomplex name is not needed within the instance, since the complex nameis used to differentiate the views belonging to different instances andapplications. This information is something the instance and itsMiniView Manager 1554 already knows, since the MiniView Manager 1554holds its own views. By providing this architecture, the expressionengine 1550, with the assistance of the MiniView Manager 1554, is ableto differentiate between views that are associated with differentinstances and applications. Therefore, in the exemplary MyTasksapplication, the MiniView manager 1554 would include a view object named“MyTasks.” The view object would also include a reference for theinstance in which this view object is associated. In evaluating the“#MyTasks” expression, the expression engine 1550 would identify theMyTasks view object 1558 as the source or “emitter” of the operation.Specifically, the MyTasks view object 1558 associated with the instanceobject 1552 is identified as the emitter and not a “MyTasks” view objectassociated with a different instance. Since the expression engine 1550evaluates expressions relative to the instance, the correct MyTasks viewobject 1558 that was the source of the event is identified utilizing theMiniView manager 1554.

In this example, the XBind returned to the process object 1556 wouldinclude the URL referencing the MyTasks_gui.xml document 650 and theMyTasks view object 1558. An indicator would be included with the XBindthat the MyTasks view object 1558 is the emitter or source of theoperation being executed. In cases when the lookup in the MiniViewmanager 1554 does not identify a match to the object referenced in theexpression, the expression engine 1550 is configured to perform a lookupin the view manager 908 to obtain the relevant view object.

At block 1504 of the routine 1500, the process object 1556 initiatesexecution of the action operation handler 1560. In the exemplary MyTasksapplication, the XBind previously evaluated using the expression engine1550 and the emitting MyTasks view object 1558 are passed by the processobject 1556 to the Action operation handler 1560. Then, at block 1506,the action operation handler 1560 causes the method, as specified in theapplications process logic, to be performed. In this example, the Actionoperation 614 in the MyTasks application defines the following“<component>” XML element that identifies the method and target of theaction to be performed:

-   -   <component name=“button2” action=“hide” value=“ ”></component>        By defining this element, the application code is directing that        the component named “button2” be hidden. In one aspect, view        objects are encoded with generic methods for performing state        manipulations on their associated user interface components        including, but not limited to, enable, disable, hide, and show        methods, etc. Since the MyTasks view object 1558 is passed to        the action operation handler 1560, these generic methods may be        called directly on the object 1558. In this example, the action        operation handler calls the “hide” method on the MyTasks view        object 1558 and identifies the Button2 component 1562 as the        target component that will be hidden. Then, the action handling        routine 1500 proceeds to block 1508, where it terminates.

Now with reference to FIG. 16, the implementation of a bind operationhandler will be described in additional detail. Once the Open and Actionoperations 612-614 in the MyTasks application has been executed, flow ofexecution proceeds to the Bind operation 616 (FIG. 6A). As illustratedin FIG. 16, the expression represented in the value attribute of theBind operation 616 is evaluated into an XBind and returned to theappropriate process object, at block 1602. Similar to the descriptionprovided above, the process object utilizes an expression engine that islocal to the instance to evaluate the provided expression. In theexemplary Bind operation 616, the “data/tasks.xml” expression would beevaluated into the following XBind, at block 1602:

URL=data/tasks.xml

Base path=/

Selection=

The URL of this XBind references the data document that stores taskdescriptions. Moreover, the base path references the root node of thedata document corresponding to the URL and the selection aspect of thisexemplary XBind is null.

At block 1604 of the bind handling routine 1600, the process objectbeing utilized to execute the current process step initiates executionof a bind operation handler. In the call, the bind operation handlerreceives a previously evaluated XBind and the appropriate process andinstance objects. As mentioned previously, developers are able to createoperation handlers in accordance with the process operation APIs thatdefine function call parameters and the XML semantic structure that mayexist within the body of the operation. In this example, the Bindoperation 616 (FIG. 6A) defines the following “<component>” XML element618:

<component view=“MyTasks” name=“input3”select=“/tasks/task/@description”>

Accordingly, the bind operation handler (called at block 1604) isresponsible for interpreting this logic to bind a particular componentto a fragment within an XML document. More generally, each operationhandler is responsible for interpreting the logic defined in the childelements of the operation element. In this regard, the process operationAPIs allow developers to define the XML syntax in the body of theoperation so that the logic executed within an operation handler may beconfigured as needed.

At block 1605, the view object corresponding to the component that willbe bound to the underlying XML document is identified and returned tothe bind operation handler. In this example, the component element 618interpreted by the bind operation handler identifies the “Input3”component as being created within the context of the “MyTasks” viewobject. Since the appropriate instance object is supplied to the bindoperation handler, the correct view object may readily be identified.Specifically, a lookup in the MiniView manager 1554 of the instance isperformed and the “MyTasks” view object is returned directly to the bindoperation handler.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, a translated XBind is created within the bindoperation handler at block 1606. The XBind that is passed into the bindoperation handler identifies a document (“data/tasks.xml”) that storescontent utilized by the MyTasks application. However, only a subset ofthe data in the identified XML document will be bound to the Input3component. Accordingly, the binding performed by the bind operation 616in this example is configured to narrow the binding of the Input3component to a fragment of the data in the “data/tasks.xml” documentidentified by an XPath expression. Specifically, the select attribute inthe component element 618 includes an XPath expression that qualifiesthe expression in the value attribute of the bind operation 616. In thisexample, the XPath expression identifies the appropriate fragment withinthe XML document that is used to qualify the incoming XBind to the bindoperation handler and create the following translated XBind:

URL=data/tasks.xml

Base path=/tasks/task/@description

Selection=

The aforementioned translated XBind could be written in shorthandnotation as “data/tasks.xml#/tasks/task/@description.” In this regard,the URL of the translated XBind references the XML document in the datamodel that stores the relevant task descriptions. Within the XMLdocument identified by the URL, the base path references the taskelement and its corresponding description attribute. As described infurther detail below, an XBind may also include a “Selection” thatprovides additional features in referencing fragments in the data model.

At block 1608 of the bind handling routine 1600, the set data functionprovided by the appropriate user interface component is called. In thisexample, the Input3 component is the subject of the Bind operation 616and will be bound to a list of task descriptions. The component APIs maybe used to define certain methods for setting data on a particularcomponent. In one embodiment, the Input3 component may include a setdata method that is called at block 1608. Significantly, the appropriatecomponent may be identified based on the view object and the referenceto the component name received at block 1604 when the bind operationhandler was called.

When called, the set data method will typically perform administrativefunctions and error handling to ensure that a component is not alreadybound to an XML document in the data model. Then, at block 1612, theInput3 component that is the subject of the bind operation 616 is addedas an update listener to the “data/tasks.xml” document. As mentionedpreviously, the present invention provides a structured object-orientedrepresentation of the XML document in the form of a document object. Inone embodiment, document objects serve as a wrapper to DOM (“DocumentObject Model”) objects utilized by a Web browser and an XML parser. Inthis regard, enhanced features are encoded within the document objectprovided by the invention that includes the ability to add any objectsthat exist within the network operating system environment as listenersfor updates made to the data model. By way of example only, the objectsthat may be data update listeners includes, but is not limited to,processes, views, components, communication channels, etc. At block1612, a call is made to add the Input3 component as an update listenerto the object that corresponds to the “data/tasks.xml” document. In thisregard, each document object maintains a list of listeners that will benotified in response to a data update. By issuing the call to add updatelisteners at block 1612, the Input3 component will become one ofpotentially many data update listeners on the same document object.

At decision block 1614, a determination is made regarding whether thecomponent being added as an update listener to a document utilizesrules. In one aspect, the present invention supports functionality thatallows rules to be associated with a data binding component. In thisregard, a rule handler may be included in the data model that defineshow components and other objects will interpret their data binding. Asdescribed in further detail below, rules allow generic components tointerpret, learn, and take appropriate action depending on the contentin the data model. Accordingly, any XML semantics or languages havingdifferent elements, attributes, and hierarchies may understand and/or bebound to the same type of generic component. In other words, componentsthat use rules do not need to be created specifically for a certain datamodel. Instead, rules enable a generic set of components to be used withany type of underlying data and therefore facilitates true dataabstraction in the MVC design paradigm. The component does not need tounderstand the structure of the underlying data model and may use rulesto interpret content to achieve the desired functionality. Whenestablishing a binding with a component that utilizes rules,functionality is implemented for setting and/or updating a rule handlerso that rules may be applied. In the call to add a component as anupdate listener, a flag may be included to indicate whether thecomponent is a rule user. Accordingly, if the received flag indicatesthat the component is not a rule user, the result of the test performedat block 1614 is “no” and the bind handling routine 1600 proceeds toblock 1618, described in further detail below. Conversely, if thereceived flag indicates that the component is a rule user, the result ofthe test is “yes” and the bind handling routine proceeds to block 1616.At block 1616, a set rule routine 1600 is performed that applies andmerges rules of a data binding component to a rule handler maintained inthe data model. In this regard, the logic implemented by the set ruleroutine is described in further detail below with reference to FIG. 21.

At block 1618 of the bind handling routine 1600, a call is generated toupdate the user interface of the component that is the subject of thebind operation. Methods defined in accordance with the component APIsmay be used in performing an update of a user interface. Specifically,the component APIs have developers provide logic that is used toimplement an “Update( )” method for a component. In this regard, logicthat may be implemented within the “Update( )” method is described infurther detail below with reference to FIG. 22. In this example, the“Update( )” method associated with the Input3 component will result intask descriptions maintained in the data model being displayed. Then,the bind handling routine 1600 proceeds to block 1620, where itterminates. Once the Bind operation 616 completes execution, the newdata binding component will be notified of updates effecting the datamodel (“data/tasks.xml”).

In the exemplary MyTasks application (FIG. 6A), the Bind operation 616is the last operation in the Initialize Application process step 604that is executed. Upon execution of the Bind operation 616, processingof the MyTasks application remains idle until the occurrence of atrigger. In this regard, a trigger activation routine 1700 is describedbelow with reference to FIG. 17. However, prior to discussing theutilization of triggers, a description of functionality implemented bythe expression engine provided by the present invention will bedescribed in additional detail.

In existing platforms, developers are provided with the same programmingtools for both querying data and defining an application's computationallogic. In this regard, programming languages that are imperative innature will eventually cause all of an application's logic to berepresented as a sequence of ordered statements. While the orderednature of imperative programming tools is well-suited for implementingcomputational logic, the data querying capabilities of imperativelanguages are less robust. Instead, non-imperative language programmingtools would be better-suited for querying or otherwise accessing data.To this end, an expression language is provided that allows developersto utilize non-imperative programming tools when performing I/O. In thisregard, expressions are structured to be compatible with XML syntax anddelimited for use within the XML-based programming languages provided bythe present invention. Specific examples are provided herein of how theprocess XML language is readily able to utilize expressions. However,these examples should be construed as exemplary, as expressions may beincorporated for use in other XML languages and also evaluated and useddirectly from program code within objects.

Implementing a development platform configured to execute applicationsthat adhere to the MVC design paradigm provides challenges with regardto accessing data that may evolve at runtime. In one embodiment, XBindsprovide a standardized means for referencing in-memory objects,documents, data subsets, etc. As mentioned previously, an XBind is athree-dimensional data type comprised of an URL, base path (e.g., anXPath expression that may reference a fragment within an XML document orthe entire XML document), and a selection (e.g., a plurality of XPathexpressions). As will be clear from the examples described below, theXBind data type provides a standardized way for objects that may evolveat runtime to communicate their state. As such, XBinds allow differentparts of a loosely coupled system to efficiently communicate their stateinformation in a standardized way. In this regard, XBinds provide asimple and straightforward way of binding data to user interfacecomponents. Through the use of the selections, the state of a componentis capable of being described in an XBind which may be provided as inputinto other systems. More generally, each object within the networkoperating system environment can be queried at any time for an XBindthat describes the object's state. Accordingly, an XBind describing thestate of an object, (e.g. component) may be set on a different object to“clone” or transfer the components' state. In another aspect, the XBindassociated with an object may be synchronized over the network. As aresult, objects executing on remote computers may be updated using anXBind to maintain synchronized states. This is one way in which aspectsof the present invention enable real-time collaboration over thenetwork.

In one embodiment, XPath evaluations may be applied by the expressionengine. Those skilled in the art and others will recognize that XPath isa standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that provides alanguage for identifying and selecting data at a specified location inan XML document. Moreover, XPath establishes conventions for formulatingexpressions that evaluate particular values. For example, the XPathexpression “/tasks/task/@description” is used in the MyTasks applicationthat includes the abbreviated syntax of the “@” symbol for selecting theattribute named “description.” This syntax complies with XPathconventions and is used to reference a subset of data in an XML documentthat fulfills a particular select or match parameter.

The expression language provided by the present invention allowsdevelopers to reference in-memory objects that may experience statechanges at runtime. For example, the “#MyTasks” and “#MyTask#input3”expressions reference different view and component objects,respectively. Utilizing straightforward notation, developers are able todistinguish between references to these in-memory objects and their databindings. For example, if a developer is accessing data bound to the“Input3” component instead of a reference to the object itself, the“{#MyTasks#input3}” expression may be used. This particular expressionwill evaluate to the value found within the XML document referenced inthe XBind associated with the Input3 that is within the MyTasks view.Upon encountering an expression that contains curly brackets, theexpression engine will convert one or more XML nodes bound to theidentified object into text or XML. In this regard, view and componentobjects provided by the present invention are aware of their databindings and can always be queried for their XBind. By evaluatingexpressions relative to an instance, the expression engine is able toidentify the appropriate object and a corresponding data binding inevaluating these types of expressions. Accordingly, the expressionlanguage allows developers to reference both in-memory objects and theirdata bindings using the same straightforward notation. Moreover,expressions may reference external resources identified by a URL thatwill be obtained automatically using a communication channel.

Unlike existing systems which utilize XPath for navigation and selectionof data within documents, aspects of the present invention allowin-memory objects and their associated data to be referenced using XPathconventions. Assuming a component named “Input1” exists within anapplication view called “MyView,” the following would be a validexpression that is evaluated by the present invention:

{#MyView#input1#@name}

After a reference to a XML document, variable, or in-memory object,XPath conventions are applied after the last “#” character in theexpression relative to the components XBind. When a relative XPathexpression is encountered, the base path or selection within thecomponent will be merged with the supplied XPath as described withreference to the bind handling routine 1600 (FIG. 16). In the exemplaryexpression provided above, the last “#” denotes that XPath expression(e.g., “@name”) is relative so that this XPath expression will be mergedwith the components' XBind. However, XPath expressions evaluated by thepresent invention may also be absolute. In evaluating an absolute XPathexpression denoted with the “/” starting character, aspects of thepresent invention will ignore any base path or selection of thecomponents' XBind. Aspects of the present invention utilize XPathconventions in other ways than those described above. Additionalexamples of the use of XPath conventions, as well as other types ofexpressions that may be evaluated by the present invention, may be foundin the commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/976,339, entitled “Network-Based Operating System,” filed Sep. 28,2007, the content of which is expressly incorporated herein byreference.

In one embodiment, properties of an in-memory object may be accessedutilizing the expression language. These properties may be accessedregardless of their data type according to the following syntax:

#MyView.id

#MyView#input1.name

Methods for performing actions on an in-memory object may also be calledutilizing the expression language. In this regard, in-memory objectsprovided by the present invention may be encoded with methods. Utilizingthe expression language, methods may be called directly on theseobjects. For example, the following are types of expressions evaluatedby the present invention that would call a method on an object.

#MyView#maximize( )

#MyView#input1.clear( )

Moreover, higher-order expressions that accept other expressions asarguments are evaluated by the present invention. In other words, theexpression language supports recursive evaluation of expressionsconsistent with non-imperative programming techniques as the followingexample illustrates:

# MyView#{#MyView#input1.getName( )}

In this example, the name of the Input1 component is evaluated first inthe inner expression using the getName( ) method. The recursivelyevaluated expression identifying the component name is then provided asa parameter of the outer expression. This is just one example of the wayin which non-imperative programming tools are integrated and used inconjunction with the XML programming languages provided by the presentinvention.

Within the network operating system environment, process steps andassociated operations may be performed in response to the occurrence ofa trigger. In other words, the execution of process steps may be eventdriven. Accordingly, when the MyTasks.xml document 600 is opened, thetrigger 602 is registered so that flow may be directed to theappropriate process step when the trigger is activated. A triggeractivation routine 1700 will be described with reference to FIGS. 17A-Bwhich illustrate both the flow and interactions between objects utilizedto implement the routine 1700. As mentioned previously, the MyTasks.xmldocument 600 defines the following trigger 602.

<trigger view=“MyTasks” component=“button1” event=“select” step=“2”>

The trigger activation routine 1700 depicted in FIG. 17 assumes that auser selected the Button1 component identified within this triggerelement, thereby activating the trigger 602 at block 1702.

In response to the trigger being activated, the component object wherethe trigger occurred passes a notify listeners call to the event manager914, at block 1704. In the call, the appropriate component objectprovides a set of event data and directs the event manager 914 to notifyall event listeners that registered a notifier object or other objectmatching the supplied data. With specific reference to FIG. 17B, theButton1 component object 1750 associated with the MyTasks view object1752 would pass a notify listeners call to the event manager 914 atblock 1704. In the call, an expression identifying the component wherethe trigger event originated (e.g., “#MyTasks#button1”) as well as theevent type (e.g., “select”) is supplied.

At block 1706, the event manager 914 alerts one or more listeningobjects to the activation of the event. Specifically, the event manager914 performs a lookup in which the event data passed from the Button1component object 1750 is matched to data previously provided when theevent listener was registered. In this regard, the process initiationroutine 1100 (FIG. 11) provides a description of how objects mayregister an event listener in the event manager 914. In one embodiment,each trigger encountered in a process XML document will cause acorresponding notifier object as an event listener to be pre-cached inmemory when an application is initially launched. The notifier object ispre-cached in memory upon the initial launch of the application inanticipation that one or more application instances will cause thetrigger to be activated. The pre-cached notifier object is associatedwith a view name, component name, and event type, which collectivelyserve as a unique key in performing the lookup at block 1706. In otherwords, only when a component within a specified view experiences thetype of event identified in the trigger will a corresponding notifierobject be notified of the event activation. As such, only a singlenotifier object will register in the event manager 914 for a triggerdefined in a process XML document regardless of the number ofapplication instances that are executing. Even though multiple instancesof an application exist, this architecture allows the same notifierobject to be reused by each of the application instances. Additionally,this architecture allows the event manager 914 to more efficientlyiterate and notify listeners since only a single trigger registers anevent listener in the form of a notifier object that is then shared bymultiple applications instances. In other words, the performance of thelookup performed at block 914 is not dependent on the number ofapplication instances that are executing.

At block 1708 of the trigger activation routine 1700, the appropriateinstance that is associated with the activated event (trigger) isidentified. When alerted of the occurrence of an event, arguments arepassed to the event manager 914 that are used to identify theappropriate listening object and the affected instance. In this example,the expression identifying the Button1 component object 1750 is suppliedto the event manager 914 and may be utilized to identify the appropriateinstance through accessing the components view object that holds areference to the instance it belongs to. As mentioned previously, whenopening an application view, a reference to the instance is supplied tothe resulting view object. Accordingly, the MyTasks view object 1754 isaware of its associated instance object 1758. Since component objectsare created within the context of a view, the Button1 component object1750 may utilize the MyTasks view object 1754 to identify theappropriate instance, at block 1708. Once the appropriate instance isknown, the instance object 1758 is supplied to the execute method in theprocess object.

The architecture depicted in FIG. 17B and the description provided aboveillustrates how the present invention is able to support statelessexecution of process steps in a system that supports event-drivenexecution of application logic. As mentioned previously, a singleprocess XML document is utilized to execute multiple applicationsinstances. In this regard, a process object may be repetitively re-usedby different application instances thereby providing an efficientplatform for executing applications. Even though only a single notifierobject 1756 is pre-cached for each trigger in an application, thepresent invention allows the appropriate instance to be supplied to theprocess object 1700. In this regard, the notifier object 1756 isactivated when an event matching a unique key comprising the view,component, and event type is received by the event manager 914.Moreover, the event manager 914 is able to identify and provide theappropriate instance object 1758 to the notifier object 1758 utilizingthe supplied component, view or event listening object. At block 1712 ofthe trigger activation routine 1700, a call to execute a process step inan application is generated. As mentioned previously, the process stepthat will be executed is cached in the notifier object 1756 or known bythe event listening object. Accordingly, once the appropriate instanceis supplied, the notifier object 1756 may call the execute method (FIG.12) at block 1712 supplying (1) the instance object 1758 that representsthe current runtime state of the application, and (2) the process step(e.g., “2”) in the application's process logic that will be executed.Then, the trigger activation routine 1700 proceeds to block 1714, whereit terminates. Other event listening objects may also call a processobject step or directly execute its own custom code.

When the trigger in the MyTasks application is activated, flow ofexecution proceeds to the Decision operation 620. Generally described,the logic within the decision operation 620 performs a test to determinewhether any text was entered into the Input4 component when the trigger602 was activated. In this regard, a decision handling routine 1800 thatimplements the Decision operation 620 will be described with referenceto FIG. 18. As illustrated in FIG. 18, the decision handling routine1800 begins at block 1802 where an expression is passed to theexpression engine for evaluation. In this example, the Decisionoperation 620 contains a value attribute of “#MyTasks#input4” whichwould be passed to the expression engine for evaluation at block 1802.As mentioned previously, developers may utilize the expression languageprovided by the present invention to reference in-memory objects.Specifically, the “#MyTask#input4” expression selected and passed to theexpression engine for evaluation at block 1802 references a componentobject that may experience state changes as an application executes.

At decision block 1804, a determination is made regarding whether theexpression being evaluated references a component that is associatedwith a data binding. In some instances, a data binding may be defined inwhich data input and/or displayed by the component is automaticallypropagated between the component and the data model. On the other hand,a component may be “atomic” or not associated with an existing databinding. When evaluating expressions that reference atomic components,the expression engine implements functionality that allows datainput/output from the component or other data affecting the state of thecomponent to be accessed within the logic of an operation handler. Byimplementing this functionality, the expression engine allows this datato always be accessible using XML-based expressions.

To make the determination regarding whether a component is associatedwith a data binding at block 1804, the expression engine may identifythe component object named “Input4” using the instance. As mentionedpreviously, component objects provided by the present invention areaware of their data bindings. Accordingly, once the appropriatecomponent object is identified, the expression engine may readilydetermine whether the component is atomic or associated with a databinding. If the result of the test performed indicates the componentreferenced in the expression is not associated with a data binding, thenthe decision handling routine 1800 proceeds to block 1808, described infurther detail below. Conversely, if the result of the test performed atblock 1804 indicates that the expression references a componentassociated with a data binding, then the decision handling routine 1800proceeds to block 1806.

If block 1806 is reached, the component referenced in an encounteredexpression is associated with a data binding. In this instance, theexpression is evaluated without creating a temporary XBind to accountfor the non-existence of a data binding. More specifically, theexpression engine would evaluate the “#MyTasks#input4” expression atblock 1806 and request the XBind from the Input4 component. In thisexample, the XBind returned by the expression engine would provide theoperation handler with everything needed to execute.

In one embodiment, developers may provide XML semantic descriptions toaccess data and otherwise perform I/O. However, an expression mayactually request data that is only available from an in-memory objectimplemented in a scripting language (e.g., Java Script). Accordingly,even though a component is not associated with a binding, the presentinvention allows expressions to operate and access data associated withthe component using its corresponding in-memory object. For example, thedecision operation 620 in the MyTasks application includes the following“<when>” XML element 622.

<when test=“text( )=“ ” step=“3”/>

<otherwise step=“4”/>

The when element 622 includes the XPath expression “text( )” whichapplies XPath evaluation conventions to request text entered into theInput4 component. Since the component is atomic, the requested data isnot available using an existing data binding. Instead, the presentinvention evaluates XML-based expressions and allows data to be accessedeven though the requested data is not currently maintained in the datamodel. Instead, a temporary XBind is created for the object (e.g.,component) that references a fragment within a system-provided statedocument. As described in further detail below, the system-providedstate XML document may contain all of the state information of therelevant component.

At block 1808 of the decision handling routine 1800, the requested datais obtained from an in-memory object associated with an atomiccomponent. Logic implemented within an operation handler may utilizedata that involves the state of an atomic component. For example, ifblock 1808 of the decision handling routine 1800 is reached, the Input4component is an atomic component that is not associated with a databinding. Accordingly, the XPath expression “text( )” within the body ofthe decision operation 620 requests data involving the state of thecomponent that is not bound to a known document in the data model. Toproperly evaluate this type of expression, the requested data should beavailable from the data model. In this regard, the expression engine isable to query the Input4 component for the relevant data since the XBindrequested in the expression does not exist.

In one embodiment, each time an atomic component is referenced in anexpression being evaluated, a system-provided state XML document isupdated with the current state of the component. As described in furtherdetail below, a temporary XBind may then be created that points to theappropriate fragment within the system-provided state XML document wherethe requested data may be obtained. Alternatively, the state of everycomponent in the system (regardless of whether the component is atomicor associated with a data binding) may constantly be propagated to asystem-provided state XML document utilizing the functionalityencapsulated in a State Manager. In this instance, the requested datawould already be available from the data model and would be accessibleusing a translated XBind, as described below. Significantly, thisembodiment facilitates synchronization of an application's state acrossmultiple client computers. Moreover, by automatically propagating stateinformation to the data model in this way, the state of an applicationmay readily be restored if the application is closed and subsequentlyopened.

At block 1810, a temporary XBind for accessing data obtained from anatomic component is generated and returned to the appropriate processobject. When an application includes an operation that utilizes anatomic component, data may be obtained directly from the componentobject and stored in the system-provided state document. A translatedXBind that is temporarily used to evaluate this expression is generatedthat references the location in the state document where the requesteddata may be obtained. In evaluating the “#MyTask#input4” expression, theexpression engine may generate an XBind that is similar to thefollowing:

URL=#State

Base path=/states/state[@qid=‘#MyTasks#input4’]

Selection=

The URL of this XBind references the system-provided state XML documentallocated to store component state information. Moreover, the base pathpoints to the node within the state document where the text entered intothe Input4 component was stored, at block 1808. Once evaluated, thetemporary XBind is returned from the expression engine to theappropriate process object. By storing state information and generatinga temporary XBind in this way, aspects of the present invention allowdevelopers to utilize XML-based expressions to reference components andtheir data regardless of whether the component is associated with a databinding. More generally, all operation handlers that access XMLdocuments are also able to work with and reference atomic objects thatare not associated with a data binding. As the examples aboveillustrate, references to objects (e.g., components) in expressions areevaluated into an XBind. As a result, aspects of the invention allowcomponents to bind to each other. When this type of binding is defined,the second component effectively “clones” the first component's XBind.In other words, the second component is provided with synchronizedXBinds from the first component. Data binding between components areeven possible when the target of the binding is an atomic component. Inthis instance, the second component will be associated with an XBindthat references the system provided state document describing the stateof the first component. Since the first component is atomic, this willeffectively create a master-slave relationship between the twocomponents.

As further illustrated in FIG. 18, a decision operation handler iscalled at block 1812 to perform the evaluation defined in the decisionoperation 606. In this regard, parameters are passed in the call to thedecision operation handler that may include a temporary XBind if theoperation involves an atomic component. In one embodiment, developersare able to create operations in accordance with the operations API thatdefine function call parameters and the XML semantic structure that mayexist within the body of the operation. In the decision operation 620,elements are defined that allow the flow of program execution to bedirected based on the result of an evaluated XPath expression. In thisexample, a string comparison is performed within the decision operationhandler to determine whether text was entered into the Input4 component.Accordingly, the XPath expression (e.g., “text( )”) is evaluated withinthe decision operation handler into text. In instances when theexpression being evaluated references data from an atomic component, thetemporary XBind that is translated in order to evaluate a particularexpression is used to obtain the requested data. Specifically, the XBindpassed to the decision operation handler may include a reference to thesystem-provided state document where state data previously extractedfrom the Input4 component is accessible.

Then, at block 1814, a call to execute the appropriate process step inthe application is generated. The result of the evaluation performedwithin the decision operation handler determines whether to direct theflow of execution to either process step 608 or 610. When the decisionoperation handler is called, an XBind as well as process and instanceobjects are received. These received arguments allow the decisionoperation handler to readily initiate execution of the next appropriateprocess step based on the result of the evaluation. In this regard, thereceived arguments may be modified or directly passed by the decisionoperation handler. Then, the decision handling routine 1800 proceeds toblock 1816, where it terminates.

As mentioned previously, the decision operation 620 causes the flow ofexecution to proceed to process step 610 if text was not entered in theInput4 component upon the occurrence of the trigger 602. The onlyoperation in the process step 610 is the action operation 628 which willcause a button component to be displayed. In this regard, the actionoperation 628 may be executed using the action operation handlerdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 15A-B. Accordingly, additionaldescription of the functionality implemented when program flow isdirected to process step 610 will not be described in further detailhere.

When text is entered in the Input4 component upon the occurrence of thetrigger 602, execution of the MyTasks application proceeds to theprocess step 608. The operation defined within the process step 608 is achange operation 624 that will cause text input into a component to beadded to an XML document. In this regard, an exemplary change handlingroutine 1900 that implements the data update using a change operationhandler will be described with reference to FIG. 19.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, the change handling routine 1900 begins atblock 1902 where an expression evaluation is performed. Specifically,the “data/tasks.xml” expression in the value attribute of the changeoperation 624 is evaluated into an XBind at block 1902. In this example,the XBind that results from the evaluation will consist of a URL andbase path that references the root node of the “data/tasks.xml”document.

As the description above illustrates, an expression in the valueattribute of an operation is evaluated into an XBind for each operationin an application. In one embodiment, expressions within the body of anoperation may be evaluated within the logic implemented by an operatorhandler. Alternatively, expressions within the body of an operation maybe evaluated before the appropriate operation handler is called. Whileboth embodiments are supported, evaluation of expressions within thebody of an operation in the logic of an operation handler is preferredsince it is more efficient. In this regard, the change operation 624includes the following “<store>” XML element 626:

<store type =“append ” select=“/tasks/task/@description” value=“{#Mytask#input 4}”

The “{#MyTasks#input4}” expression within the store element 626 isevaluated into text at block 1904. As mentioned previously, theexpression engine provided by the present invention allows developers todelimit expressions for evaluation using the curly bracket notation.These expressions may be defined in attributes, between elements, andother locations in application code. In this example, logic within theexpression engine causes the “{#MyTasks#input4}” expression to beevaluated into text.

In general, the change operation implemented by the present inventionprovides developers with a raw data manipulation tool for performing allthe necessary modifications to the contents of an XML document. In thisregard, a plurality of data manipulation primitives are provided thatare in essence consistent with the World Wide Web Consortium's DOMstandard. Moreover, aspects of the invention provide additional datamanipulation primitives that include the replaceText and delete childrenprimitives. Accordingly, the following exemplary primitives may beperformed to modify the contents of an XML document using the changeoperation provided by the present invention: replace, replaceText,append, prepend, insert, remove, remove children, new, and delete. Thoseskilled in the art and others will recognize that these suppliedprimitives may be used and combined to perform all of the necessarymodifications to the data model. As described in further detail below,any change operation affecting the data model will cause a transactionto be created within the transaction manager 910, that describes theexact update that will be made.

At block 1906 of the change handling routine 1900, the change operationhandler is called by the appropriate process object. When block 1906 isreached, the process object executing the current process is able topass the previously evaluated XBind as well as the appropriate instanceand process objects to the change operation handler. As described infurther detail below, the change operation handler utilizes the receivedarguments to modify the contents of an XML document.

At decision block 1908 of the change handling routine 1900, adetermination is made regarding whether the change operation beingexecuted defines a data transform. The value attribute defined in thechange operation 624 identifies the document that is the subject of thechange operation (e.g., “data/tasks.xml”). Within the store element 626,the select attribute may contain an XPath expression (e.g.,tasks/task/@description) referencing a location within the specified XMLdocument where the data modification will be performed. Moreover, theselect attribute may include an expression (e.g., “{#MyTasks#input4}”)that evaluates content that will be appended, replaced, or included inthe XML document. In one embodiment, aspects of the present inventionallow data to be transformed within the change operation before beingappended, replaced, or added to the data model. For example, the storeelement 626 could include a transform attribute that references an XSLT(Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) for performing aparticular data transform. When this type of data transform is defined,the result of the test performed at block 1908 is “yes” and the routine1900 proceeds to block 1910. However, the change operation 624 in theexemplary MyTasks application does not include a transform attribute. Inthis instance, the result of the test performed at block 1908 would be“no,” and the routine 1900 would proceed to block 1912, described infurther detail below.

At block 1910, a data transform is applied based on logic defined withina change operation. In an actual embodiment, the store element in achange operation may include a transform attribute that references anXSLT document. Logic within the XSLT document may be applied totransform data from a source format into a destination format at block1910. Traditionally, XSLT has been used to transform data to support thedynamic creation and modifications of Web pages. In addition, XSLT isalso used to transform between XML business format languages and theircorresponding structures as part of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)integration servers. However, these examples are merely exemplary andXSLT is utilized in other instances. Moreover, other transform languagescould be used in conjunction with the present invention and the use ofXSLT should not be construed as limiting. In any event, those skilled inthe art and others will recognize that XSLT is an XML-based language fordefining transforms between various markup languages (XML, HTML, XHTML,etc.) as well as between XML schemas and XML documents implementingdifferent XML schemas or DTDs (Document Type Definition). In thisregard, an XSLT processor may be used by the change operation handler toapply the data transform, at block 1910. By supporting the dynamicapplication of transforms in this way, an enhanced development platformis provided in which applications are better equipped to exchange data,interact, and integrate/re-use functionality.

A computer user will typically employ multiple applications such ase-mail, Web browsers, calendar applications, word processors, mediaplayers, and the like. However, the data formats and logic used bydifferent applications are seldom compatible using existing systems. Forexample, an e-mail program may allow users to define a “contact” that isused to store and access information related to another user. On theother hand, a calendaring application allows users to create and trackmeetings and appointments involving other users, groups, etc. Inresponse to reviewing a message from a contact defined in the e-mailprogram, a user may want to automatically create a new meeting in thecalendaring application. However, supporting functionality that allowsdifferent applications to interact in this way is not readily performedusing existing systems.

The data transform applied at block 1910 occurs before the raw datamanipulation of the change operation is performed. By supporting thistype of dynamic application of data transforms, aspects of the presentinvention provide application developers better opportunities toleverage functionality and data available from other applications. Inthe example provided above, a data transform may be performed thatreadily allows an e-mail and calendaring application to interact. Forexample, an XSLT transform may be defined for converting a receivede-mail and/or contact into a data item describing a new appointment. Inthis regard, the transform may utilize the contact information, thecontent of an e-mail message, and/or input from the user to establishthe attributes of the meeting. Within the change operation, this type ofXSLT transform may be applied that allows different applications tocommunicate even though different underlying schemas and XML structuresare used.

At block 1912 of the change handling routine 1900, a call to perform thespecific data update represented in the change operation is made to theappropriate URL object. As described in further detail below, a URLobject provided by the present invention serves as a lightweight pointerthat exposes methods for performing each of the different types of datamodification primitives (described above) that are supported by thechange operation handler. Accordingly, the change operation handlerutilizes the received XBind and logic within the change operation 626 toidentify the appropriate URL object to call. It should be wellunderstood that the utilization of a URL object is merely implemented toobstruct the details of interaction with documents and the inventioncould readily be implemented in other ways. Once the call to the URLobject is made, flow of execution proceeds to the data update routine2000 described below with reference to FIG. 20. Then, the changehandling routine 1900 proceeds to block 1914, where it terminates.

Now with reference to FIGS. 20A-C, a data update routine 2000 and theinteraction between objects used by the routine 2000 will be described.The data update routine 2000 depicted in FIG. 20 illustrates twoinstances beginning at blocks 2002 or 2004 where a data update isperformed. In the embodiment when the data update routine 2000 begins atblock 2002, a URL object receives a call to perform a data update withinthe context of a change operation handler 1250. As described above, anapplication may include a change operation for modifying the contents ofan XML document. Accordingly, the change handling routine 1900 (FIG. 19)may generate a call to perform a data update on the specified URL object1253 that is received at block 2002.

When the routine 2000 begins at block 2004, a call to perform a dataupdate on the specified URL object 1253 originates from a user interfacecomponent. When a binding is defined, a component becomes aware of theURL and XML document associated with the binding. For example, theInput3 component in the MyTasks application would receive a URL objectcorresponding to the “data/tasks.xml” document when the Bind operation616 is executed. As described in further detail below and in accordancewith one embodiment, a Web browser that utilizes the HTML DOM may beemployed to render a user interface. In this embodiment, componentobjects created in the context of a corresponding view object causevarious event listeners to be registered on the HTML DOM utilized by theWeb browser. A component may listen for events affecting the HTML DOMthat occur when, for example, a user provides input or otherwiseinteracts with the user interface displayed by the Web Browser. Withspecific reference to FIG. 20B, the component 1252 interprets thereceived data and generates a call to its URL object 1253 to cause adata update event to be implemented. For example, when the “UpdatePresentation” task is deleted in the exemplary MyTasks application, aURL object that corresponds to the “data/tasks.xml” document is createdand called to delete the task description from the data model. Asdescribed in further detail below, the URL object 1253 will thencommunicate the data update to the transaction manager 910. In turn, thetransaction manager 910 will propagate the data update to the underlyingXML document object that actually causes the data update to beimplemented. In addition to implementing the data update, the documentobject 1254 will cause the data update to be propagated to all theappropriate listening data update objects. These listening objects arefrequently components but may be other types of objects. An XML documentmay be shared across remote computers that listen for changes that occurto the XML document object. However, the data update to the localdocument object 1254 maintained in client-side cache is implementedbefore the data update is propagated to any remote listeners. In otherwords, the full network update is performed subsequent to the dataupdate being implemented locally.

At block 2006 of the data update routine 2000, the URL object 1253corresponding to the document object 1254 that will be updated causes anew transaction to be generated. In this regard, the transaction manager910 is called, at block 2006, which creates a new “transaction” or XMLfragment that represents a relative change to an XML document. In oneembodiment, the transaction manager 910 includes information in the XMLfragment for both implementing and reversing the relative change.Moreover, regardless of whether the data update originates from thecontext of a component or the change operation handler, an XBindserialized into XML is included with the transaction created at block2006. As described in further detail below, the transaction manager 910causes the data update to be implemented both locally and propagated toany remote listeners. In either instance, an XBind is supplied thatidentifies the location in the data model where the data update will beperformed and XML formatted data that contains logic for reverting therequested data manipulation operation, referred to herein as performinga “rollback.”

At block 2008, the transaction manager 910 causes the data update to beimplemented locally. A transaction may represent a session that consistsof multiple and potentially different types of modifications to the datamodel. Accordingly, in a data notification event, one or more updateevent objects are created that represent a unit in which modificationsto the data model are described. On the other hand, a transaction fullydescribes one or more changes being made to the data model and logic forreverting these changes. Moreover, in addition to sending out datanotification events, document objects provide methods for modifying theactual contents of an underlying XML document as represented in updateevent objects. Specifically, each data manipulation primitive that maybe performed on an XML document (replace, append, prepend, insert, etc.)is implemented in corresponding methods provided by the URL object 1253,the transaction manager 910, and the document object 1254.

As further illustrated in FIG. 20 at block 2012, the transaction manager910 calls the communication manager 1256 to propagate the transaction toany remote listeners. In this regard, the communication manager 1256allows applications to instantiate channels that abstract communicationswith remote network services. Based on the received XBind, thecommunication manager 1256 will identify the appropriate communicationchannel for transmitting the transaction over the network, if any. Asdescribed in further detail below, communication channels operate underdifferent protocols as defined by the URL standard. For example, theappropriate communication channel may be identified in the protocolidentified in the URL such as “http://,” “xios://,” or “database://.”Using logic obtained according to communicator APIs, the data receivedfrom the transaction manager 910 is translated into a format understoodby a remote network service. In this regard, systems and methods forperforming network communications using communication channels will bedescribed in further detail below. Significantly, logic for notifyingand updating local data listeners is performed before, and independentlyfrom, a corresponding transaction being transmitted over the network. Inone embodiment, the present invention is configured to propagatetransactions over the network asynchronously. As a result, execution ofapplication logic locally is not hindered by network latency or otherdelays that are inherent in network communications. Then, once thetransaction is provided to the appropriate channel, the data updateroutine 2000 proceeds to block 2014, where it terminates.

Now with reference to FIG. 20C, an exemplary networking environmentsuitable for illustrating how transactions are propagated between remoteclients will be described. As mentioned previously, the transactionmanager 910 causes transactions or data fragments that represent arelative change to documents stored locally to be propagated to anyremote listeners. In the example depicted in FIG. 20C, transactionsoriginating with clients 2080 and 2082 are continuously transmitted tothe XML file system 2084 maintained at a server-side data center.Specifically, each of the clients 2080 and 2082 propagate thetransactions 2086-2088 and 2090-2092 to the actively shared document2093. Any data updates to the document objects 2094 or 2096 performedlocally in the client-side cache 2098 are identified and propagated tothe XML file system 2084 so that the clients 2080 and 2082 are able toshare data in real time.

Now with reference to FIG. 21, an additional description regarding howrules are applied to provide more-intelligent components will bedescribed. When bound to data, any rules associated with a component areapplied and allocated a unique namespace in the data model. Generallydescribed, rules allow generic components to interpret, learn, and takeappropriate action depending on the content in the data model. In otherwords, a rule using component does not need to be created for specificdata models. In this regard, the bind handling routine 1600 describedabove (FIG. 16) may determine that a particular component utilizesrules. In this instance, the set rule routine 2100 described withreference to FIG. 21 may be called to apply and merge rules associatedwith the data binding of a new component. In one embodiment, the uniqueXML namespace of a component's rules are merged into the data model andreadily available to the components that are bound to the data model. Inan alternative embodiment, the rules associated with the component maybe stored remotely and accessible through Web services or additional XMLdocuments.

As illustrated in FIG. 21, the set rule routine 2100 begins at block2102, and at decision block 2104, a determination is made regardingwhether a rule handler for the appropriate document is defined. In thisregard, rule handlers allow rules associated with different componentsto be executed relative to the same data. Each rule-using componentbound to an XML document will provide logic (e.g., “rules”) to acorresponding rule handler maintained in the data model. Accordingly, ifa component that utilizes rules was previously bound to the relevantdocument, then a corresponding rule handler will exist, and the routine2100 proceeds to block 2108, described in further detail below. In thisregard, if multiple rule-using components are bound to the samedocument, the same rule handler is used for all of these components.Conversely, if a rule-using component was not previously bound to therelevant document, then the routine 2100 proceeds to block 2106. Asfurther illustrated in FIG. 21 at block 2106, a new rule handler iscreated for holding the rules of each component bound to the sameunderlying data.

As mentioned previously, a set of generic components of the type used bymodern graphically-based applications is provided. By defining rules,generic components provided by the present invention do not need tounderstand anything about the underlying data model. In this regard,FIG. 8A illustrates a tree component 800 that visually depicts thehierarchy of folders in a file system and includes folder names, icons,and the like. Rules may be defined that provide logic for populating ageneric tree component with content that is maintained in the datamodel. For example, aspects of the present invention may describe thecontents of a file system in a folders.xml document in which eachelement in the document represents a different folder. Data associatedwith particular folders such as an identifier, icon, and the like may beidentified according to attributes within a folder element. By way ofexample only, the following rules may be defined to interpret content inthe folders.xml document for display in the tree component 800 depictedin FIG. 8A.

<tree name = “folder tree”> <rule match=“folder” display=“@id”/> <rulematch=“folder [@id =‘email’]” display=“@id” icon= “icons/mailicon.png”/></tree>In this regard, the first rule element with the match attribute of“folder” and the display attribute of “@id” would cause the contents ofthe “id” attribute in the folders.xml document to be displayed as thefolder name. Accordingly, the names allocated to folders in the treecomponent 800 depicted in FIG. 8A may be defined utilizing a rule. Thesecond rule element with the match attribute of “folder [@id=‘email’]”would cause the folder that has the name attribute of “email” to beallocated a particular icon associated with e-mail messages, as depictedin FIG. 8A. It should be well understood that the rules provided aboveare merely exemplary and only include a subset of the logic that wouldactually be used to populate the content of the tree component 800. Inthe event that the structure of the folders.xml document is modified, acomponent's rules may be readily updated to account for the change.Moreover, rule-using components will be notified of the changes in thesame way as other data updates. Specifically, an event update object maybe created and used to notify the component of the changes utilizing thenotify listeners routine 2200 of the data update event notification busdescribed in further detail below.

With reference again to FIG. 21, the rules of the component being boundto the data model are applied at block 2108. Once a rule handler iscreated, a component that is the subject of the bind operation providesits rules to the appropriate rule handler. In this regard, a rulehandler serves as an extension to the data model and manages the rulesof different data binding components that are bound to the samedocument. In one embodiment, namespaces may be allocated in the datamodel that separate the vocabularies of different rule using componentsor objects. By allocating and managing component rules utilizingnamespaces, the rule handler is able to execute all component rules in away that prevents collisions within the data model.

In applying new rules at block 2108, the rule handler is invoked andcauses the rules of each component bound to the relevant document to beexecuted. In other words, the rules associated with potentially multipledata binding components are executed relative to the current version ofthe data model. Then, once all of the rules have been executed, thecomponent that is the subject of the bind operation is made aware of itscorresponding assigned namespace by the rule handler. Specifically, therule handler passes a reference to the component associated with the newdata binding that identifies the namespace in the data model allocatedto the components' rules.

At block 2110 of the set rule routine 2100, rules associated with acomponent that is the subject of the bind operation are merged with therules of other components. Developers may define the semantic logic of acomponent's rules utilizing the XML-based languages provided by thepresent invention. By way of example, a rule may include XPathexpressions, UI XML logic references, elements that describe othercomponents, variables, aliases and other references to data outside thecontainer of a rule namespace. In this regard, data bindings ofdifferent components may have transitive relationships by virtue oftheir associated application and rule logic. Accordingly, the rules ofdifferent components working on the same underlying data are alsomaintained in the data model. Once a component is made aware of itsnamespace, a call is generated to set new data on the component. In thiscase, the call to set new data on the component will cause the semanticlogic of a component's rules to be included in the data model in anamespace that is separate from the rules associated with othercomponents.

At block 2112, a call is generated that causes a data update asreflected in the data model to be propagated to any data updatelisteners. As mentioned previously, document objects maintain a list oflisteners that are notified in response to a data update. When new rulesare added to the data model, as occurs at block 2010, the correspondinglisteners will be notified of the data update. In this regard, the logicfor notifying listeners of an update is described in further detailbelow with reference to FIG. 22. Then, the set rule routine 2100proceeds to block 2114, where it terminates.

In the examples above, bindings were defined that caused a component toautomatically display content maintained in the data model. By usingbindings in this way, developers are freed from having to provide logicin application code for setting and updating data on user interfacecomponents. However, the examples above are highly simplified and onlyreflect one exemplary aspect of the present invention. In this regard,bindings and their corresponding XBinds enable the implementation ofmore sophisticated functionality.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a standardized meansfor objects to describe, store, and communicate their current state. Byway of example, FIG. 8A illustrates a tree component 800 that allows auser to navigate and select folders from a file system. A user selectionmay be described in an XBind, which provides a standardized variableformat in the network operating system environment. In the exampledepicted in FIG. 8A, the user made a series of selections to navigate tothe folder entitled “video_encoding.” The state of the tree component800 with regard to the selection of this particular folder may bedescribed in the following XBind:

URL: folders.xml

XPath: /

Selection: /folders/research/work/video_encoding/

The example provided above is simplified and used for illustrativepurposes only. In an actual embodiment, the XBind that describe thestate of the tree component 800 would actually be:

URL: folders.xml

XPath: /

Selection:/fs:folder/fs:folder[@name=‘research’]/fs:folder[@name=‘work’]/fs:folder[@name=‘videoencoding]

All of the XBinds described herein may be used to reference dataregardless of where the data is stored. Accordingly if the underlyingdata was maintained at a network location, the above selection could bedescribed in the following XBind:

URL: http://www.networkdomain.com.folders.xml

Base path: /

Selection: /folders/research/work/video_encoding/

In any event, other objects will frequently use an XBind describing auser selection as the basis for performing actions or otherwiseimplementing application functionality. As illustrated in FIG. 8B, thelist component 850 displays file system data that may be based on a userselection made from the tree component 800. For example, the listcomponent 850 could be configured to display documents (e.g.,“whitepaper.txt,” “testresults.xml,” and “blog.html”) based on thefolder selected in the tree component 800. The XBind describing theselection is output to the shared data model by the tree component 800.In turn, this XBind may be provided as input into other listeningobjects (e.g., the list component 850). Accordingly, the input providedto one object (i.e., the list component 850) is interleaved with outputpreviously persisted to the data model from a different object (i.e.,the tree component 800). The implementation of an XBind provides ageneric variable format that enables this interleaving of I/O in whichvalues accessed from the data model depend on the values of previousI/O. In this regard, the internal computational logic of objects thatimplement the XML virtual machine is decoupled from their interactionswith other objects and systems. In one aspect, XBinds provide astandardized variable format that is used to model interactions andallow this decoupling. XBinds provided by the present invention does notcontain values to requested data. Instead, XBinds reference locationswhere data can be obtained thereby allowing different objects andsystems to work with the same underlying data. In addition, XBinds mayalso be transformed, merged, serialized for use an XML-based system. Asthe description herein illustrates, XBinds serve as a carrier of objectstate information utilizing the selection aspect of the XBind.Significantly, since XBinds reference locations where object stateinformation may be obtained, the state information is communicatedwithout altering or changing any of the referenced information orobjects.

As a user navigates the file system, the tree component 800 may utilizeall dimensions of an XBind to describe a selection. For example, if theuser were to select both the “whitepaper.txt” and “testresults.xml”documents in the tree component 800, the selection may be described inthe following XBind.

URL: folders.xml Base path: /folders/research/work/video_encoding/Selection: /folders/research/work/video_encoding/document[@name =‘testresults.xml’] /folders/research/work/video_encoding//document[@name= ‘whitepaper.txt’]Again, the example above is used for illustrative purposes and does notrepresent an actual embodiment of the present invention. The URL of thisXBind references the underlying XML document describing the file system,and the base path limits the binding to the “video_encoding” folder.Moreover, the selection of this XBind includes an array of XPathexpressions that identify each document selected by the user. Similar tothe description provided above, this XBind may serve as the basis forother objects to perform actions. By way of example, a user couldgenerate an event to delete the selected documents. The above XBind thatdescribes the selection state of the tree component 800 would beprovided as input into systems that implement the file deletion.

As indicated previously, components and other objects may be notified inresponse to changes in the data model. Aspects of the present inventionallow components to register as listeners for data updates performed ona particular document. When a data update occurs, each listenerregistered with the document object is notified of the data update andmay update their user interface accordingly. Now with reference to FIG.22, a notify listeners routine 2200 that propagates data updates tolistening components will be described. While the notify listenersroutine 2200 is described with reference to listening component objects,this is merely exemplary as other objects may be data update listeners.

As illustrated in FIG. 22, the notify listeners routine 2200 begins atblock 2202 where a data update is performed on an XML document. As theexamples above illustrate, data updates to the data model may beperformed in different circumstances. When interacting with a databinding component, a user may generate input that is automaticallypersisted to the data model by the component. On the other hand, a dataupdate may be performed as a result of executing application logicdefined in a change operation. Moreover, objects that implement the XMLvirtual machine perform data updates when using the shared data modeland bindings as a communication interface. For example, the semanticdescription of a component's rules are persisted to the data model whichallows different components to interpret the same underlying data.

At decision block 2204, a determination is made regarding whether thedata update was performed on a document with a corresponding rulehandler. If a rule handler is not defined because a rule-using componentwas not previously bound to the document, the result of the testperformed at block 2204 is “no” and the notify listeners routine 2200proceeds to block 2208, described in further detail below. Conversely,if the relevant document has a corresponding rule handler, the notifylisteners routine 2200 proceeds to block 2206.

At block 2206, the rule handler associated with the document thatexperienced a data update is invoked. By invoking the rule handler,logic is implemented to ensure that the rule namespace as understood byeach data binding component is current and to preserve the integrity ofthe data model. In this regard, the data update performed at block 2002may involve adding or otherwise modifying the logic in the rule handler.For example, when a new data binding is defined, the set rule routine2100 (FIG. 21) causes the rules of a new component associated with thedata binding to be merged in the data model with the rules of othercomponents. Any listening component bound to the same underlyingdocument is notified within the notify listeners routine 2200 about thedata update to the rule handler.

In the set rule routine 2100 described above (FIG. 21), the rule handlercauses all rules as reflected in the current version of the data modelto be executed. Then, the component associated with the new data bindingis provided with current namespace information regarding the component'scorresponding rules in the data model. However, since the addition ofnew rules may affect the bindings of other rule-using components, anupdate notification is also provided to these rule-using components.Accordingly, when invoked at block 2206, the rule handler causes all ofthe rules as reflected in the current version of the data model to beexecuted. As a result, the rule handler is able to provide currentnamespace information and up-to-date rules to any listening componentthat is a rule user. In turn, this new data is set on the component,thereby causing the data update of the new rules to be reflected in thelistening component's data binding.

Once the rule handler completes, the “Update( )” method associated witha listening component is called at block 2208. Since components aredefined in accordance with a set of component APIs, the logic performedwithin the “Update( )” method is configurable. In other words, eachcomponent will not implement the same logic within its “Update( )”method. Instead, developers may adopt this logic and create newcomponents that effectively extend the capabilities of the XML virtualmachine. Accordingly, the description provided below is made withreference to components provided by the present invention and is merelyrepresentative of the logic that may be implemented within the “Update()” method.

At decision block 2210, a determination is made regarding whether aninitial data update was performed at block 2202. In one embodiment, dataupdates are directed through the transaction manager 910. One or moreevent update objects that represent an atomic unit for implementing thedata update may be created and subsequently supplied in the call to thelistening component's “Update( )” method (received at block 2208). Inone embodiment, if an event update object is received in the call to the“Update( )” method, the data update is not an initial update, and thenotify listeners routine 2200 proceeds to block 2214, described infurther detail below. If an event update object is not received in thecall to the “Update( )” method, then the routine 2200 determines that aninitial data update is being performed and proceeds to block 2212.

At block 2212, the user interface of the component is visually renderedusing a complete representation of the underlying data bound to thecomponent. If block 2212 is reached, an initial data update is beingperformed, and all of the data set on the component should be reflectedin the component's user interface. In this regard, a routine that causesXML formatted data to be rendered in a component's user interface isdescribed in further detail below with reference to FIG. 23. However, itshould be well understood that how the rendering is performed is at thediscretion of the developer and not dictated by the component APIs. Asdescribed in further detail below, rendering may be performed usingvarious technologies including, but not limited to, XSLT, JavaScript,HTML, VML/SVG or Adobe™ Flash.

As mentioned previously, one or more event update objects may beprovided when a listening component's “Update( )” method is called. Asillustrated in FIG. 22, a received event update object that representsan atomic unit of describing a data update is selected for processing atblock 2212. In one embodiment, logic is implemented that causes the dataupdate, as represented in one or more event update objects, to bereflected in a listening component's user interface.

At decision block 2214, a determination is made regarding whether theselected event update object represents a data update that affects thelistening component. As described previously, the component or operationwhere the data update originated supplies an XBind that references thelocation in the data model affected by the data update. This variablethat describes the change being performed to the data model is includedin the event update objects that are propagated to each listeningcomponent. In this regard, an XBind is also used to describe the bindingof data to a listening component's user interface. In one embodiment,the XBind describing the data binding of the listening component may becompared to the supplied XBind describing the data update. Utilizationof a common variable format (e.g., XBind) allows a listening componentto perform a comparison and determine whether the user interface of thecomponent is affected by the data update. If the results of thiscomparison indicates that the listening component is not affected by thedata update, then the notify listeners routine 2200 proceeds to block2222, described in further detail below. Conversely, if the data bindingof the listening component's user interface is affected by the dataupdate, then the notify listeners routine 2200 proceeds to block 2216.

In one aspect, the present invention supports partial updates to thevisual display of a component's user interface. At decision block 2216,a determination is made regarding whether a partial update may beperformed by a listening component. In this regard, if logic is providedwithin the listening component's “Update( )” method that supportspartial updates, then the notify listeners routine 2200 proceeds toblock 2220, described in further detail below. Conversely, if thelistening component does not support partial updates, then the notifylisteners routine 2200 proceeds to block 2218, where the “Update( )”method causes the component's user interface to be rendered based on allof the data reflected in the components data binding. In this regard, aroutine that causes XML formatted to be rendered on a component's userinterface is described in further detail below with reference to FIG.23.

At block 2220 of the notify listeners routine 2200, a partial update toa component's user interface is performed. When partial updates aresupported, only the data in the components data binding that is affectedby the data update is utilized to perform the partial update. Using thesupplied XBind this data may be identified and set on the component, atblock 2220. The “Update( )” method of the component causes thecomponent's user interface to be rendered based on the partial updatenow reflected in the components data binding.

At decision block 2222, a determination is made regarding whether anyadditional updates will be reflected in the component's user interface.Accordingly, if any event objects received in the call to the “Update()” method have not been previously selected, the routine 2200 proceedsback to block 2212, and blocks 2212-2220 repeat until each event updateobject has been selected and processed. Then, once all of the changesrepresented in the data update are reflected in the components' userinterface, the routine 2200 proceeds to block 2224, where it terminates.

As mentioned previously with reference to FIGS. 4A-B, the networkoperating system may be implemented on a client computer within thecontext of a Web browser, as a stand-alone application or as a machineoperating system. In this regard, a rendering routine 2300 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 23 that performs processing tographically render and initialize the components and dialogs of anapplication. While specific reference is made below to specific Webbrowser technologies, it should be well understood that the presentinvention may be implemented without utilizing a Web browser. Moreover,in alternative embodiments, the rendering routine 2300 may beimplemented differently to account for browser-specific variations.Accordingly, the description provided below with reference to FIG. 23 ismerely exemplary and may be performed differently on various platforms.

As illustrated in FIG. 23, the rendering routine 2300 begins at block2302, where a view object is instantiated and called to render a newapplication view. As mentioned previously, the data type recognizerprovided by the present invention may cause a new view object to beinstantiated when an UI XML document is opened. Then, the view objectgenerates a request to obtain a new dialog object at block 2304.Generally described, a dialog serves as a frame for an application'scomponents and includes controls for minimizing, expanding, andmanipulating the visual representation of an application's view. In oneembodiment, a dialog manager is provided that is configured to recycledialog objects, thereby reducing the amount of memory consumed.Accordingly, if a previously created dialog object is no longer beingutilized but still maintained in memory, then an existing dialog objectwill be reassigned to the new application view.

At block 2306 of the rendering routine 2300, the view object isregistered as a listener on a corresponding view.xml document. Similarto user interface components, a view object may register as a listenerfor data updates performed to the data model that describes the view. Asdescribed in further detail below, the view.xml document in which theview object registers as a listener will be updated when specifiedevents that originate from the Web browser occur. Typically, the eventswill be user generated when input is provided or a user otherwiseinteracts with the system.

At block 2308 of the rendering routine 2300, an XML-based description ofan application's user interface is transformed or converted into anHTML-based representation. As mentioned previously, the presentinvention allows developers to semantically describe the visualrepresentation of an application's view using the UI XML programminglanguage. In this regard, the UI XML programming language does not havedevelopers provide any computational or scripting logic. Instead, onlyabstract descriptions of graphical elements and their relations areprovided in an application's UI XML document. In instances when a Webbrowser is utilized, an XSLT may be defined for transforming UI XMLlogic into HTML or other markup formats suitable for rendering by a Webbrowser. Significantly, when the UI XML logic is transformed at block2308, unique identifiers associated with an application's components areincluded in the resulting HTML DOM document that is rendered by the Webbrowser. Once the transformation is performed, a Web browser will causethe graphical elements associated with an application's view to berendered.

At block 2310, an object that contains the computational logic of acomponent is instantiated and associated with a corresponding viewobject. In one embodiment, the UI XML document that describes anapplication user interface logic is traversed. Each componentrepresented in the UI XML document is selected and a correspondingcomponent object is instantiated. In one embodiment, the presentinvention provides a separation between the computational logic of acomponent and its graphical representation. In other words, the UI XMLdescription of the component's visual representation does not includeany computational logic and may be transformed in various ways and fordifferent platforms without impacting the component's behavior. In thisregard, the component object instantiated at block 2310 encodes thecomponent's computational logic, which may be represented in a scriptingprogramming language such as JavaScript, SilverLight, or Adobe™ Flash.However, developers do not define the component's behavior using thescripting language. Instead, developers define the desired behavior ofthe component using the UI XML language. If new components are needed,developers may create the new component in accordance with the componentAPIs. In this regard, each component object implements certain methodsthat are based on information received in accordance with the componentAPIs. These methods include an “Initialize( )” method for setting dataon the component and an “Update( )” method for performing updates to thecomponent's user interface. Numerous methods not discussed herein may beimplemented by within components such as an “Unload( )” for removing thecomponent when an application view is closed. However, so long as abasic methods defined by the component APIs exist, a components can beimplemented using any available rendering technology. In other words,components are not required to render their user interface using XSLT toHTML, even though that is the embodiment principally described herein.Also, the rendering logic can be described with the component usingtraditional programming logic.

At block 2312, the computational behavior of the component objectinstantiated at block 2310 is initialized. When the UI XML logic of theapplication's view is transformed, identifiers associated one or morecomponents are included in the resulting HTML DOM document rendered bythe Web browser. In initializing a component's behavior at block 2312,the appropriate references related to the component in the HTML DOM areidentified by the view object using its view.xml document. Byinterpreting the view.xml document, the view object is able toinstantiate the component objects corresponding to the generated HTMLDOM and connect each component object to a corresponding user interface.In this way, a component's computational behavior and logic is invokedon the component's user interface. Once a component has been associatedwith its respective user interface, the default states and/or values ofthe component are set in accordance with the “Initialize( )” methodimplemented in each component utilizing the component APIs. When all thecomponents represented in an application's UI XML document have beeninitialized, the rendering routine 2300 proceeds to block 2314, where itterminates.

Generally described, the functionality performed by the renderingroutine 2300 allows a view object to facilitate communications betweenXML-based applications and the HTML DOM utilized by a Web browser. Inresponse to the occurrence of an event in the Web browser, the affectedcomponent and the view object may be notified and, after processing,propagate the event to the appropriate event listeners (e.g., triggersin a process XML document or event listening objects). Once a binding isdefined, the graphical representation of a component in the Web browsermay be changed when a components corresponding “Update( )” method iscalled, in a full or partial update, as described above.

Significantly, the component APIs only require a component to implementa basic set of computational logic. As a result, components may readilybe configured to use rendering technologies other than HTML and still beaware of data updates and able to bind to data. In alternativeembodiments, components may be initialized and rendered using Adobe®Flash, Microsoft® SilverLight, Java® Applet, or any other renderingtechnology capable of being called within the computational logic of theXML virtual machine that executes each client-side componentscomputational logic. Moreover, the rendering routine 2300 describedabove may be performed in different ways when implementing the presentinvention on different types of computing devices. When a Web browser isnot utilized, the user interface logic of an application may be renderedwithout performing a transform between XML and HTML at block 2308.Instead, graphical primitives may be provided that are suitable forbeing implemented and called to render a component's user interfacewithin the “Initialize( )” and/or “Update( )” methods and built usingtraditional programming language like C, C++, Java or Microsoft®SilverLight.

XIOS Communication Overview

XIOS applications, which are written for the network operating system,use the model-view-controller (MVC) model. To this end, XIOSapplications interact primarily with a data model, which is anabstraction of the contents of a data source. This layer of abstractionbetween a XIOS application and the data source allows the XIOSapplication to be insulated from changes made in the data source. Inother words, changes in the data source do not necessarily requirechanges in the XIOS application.

FIG. 24 illustrates an overview of one embodiment of how XIOSapplications 2402 interact with a variety of exemplary data sourceswithin this framework. In MVC terms, the XIOS applications 2402 interactprimarily with a data model. In one embodiment of this architecture, theXIOS applications 2402 interact with data models for a variety of datasources by interacting with XML documents that represent a data model ofeach data source. In another embodiment, XIOS applications 2402 interactdirectly with a programming object exposing the data model as describedabove. The description below primarily relates to an embodiment in whichXIOS applications 2402 interact with XML documents, but one skilled inthe art will recognize that other implementations of the MVC paradigmmay be substituted.

The communication with a given data source is handled by thecommunication manager 2412, which may be embedded in the system contextobject 902 (FIG. 9) at runtime. The communication manager 2412 manages aset of communicator instances, each of which implements a communicatorAPI 2410. The communicator API 2410 exposes generic operationsapplicable to any given data source. For example, the communicator API2410 allows a XIOS application 2402 to load, modify, create, or delete adocument that represents connecting to a data source, modifying datastored in the data source, creating new data in the data source, queryor removing data from the data source, and the like.

The communicator API 2410 is built around the idea that any data sourcecan be accessed using just a URL. A communicator implementing thecommunicator API 2410 enables access to its data via URLs, and returnsXML documents that the XIOS applications 2402 can manipulate as a datamodel. Using this simple methodology, a XIOS application 2402 using thereturned XML document does not require any knowledge of a channel fromwhich the document arrived, or the kind of underlying data source fromwhich it is created. Having a unified way of using, manipulating, andcreating data simplifies application development and implementation ofthe data abstraction solution. XIOS applications 2402 may also easilychange from one data source to another and/or transform a data source.

The communication manager 2412 instantiates a given communicator,thereby creating a channel, in response to receiving a request for a URLfrom a XIOS application 2402. The name or type of the channel isprovided as a URL protocol, and the rest of the URL provides informationto the channel. The channel then handles the information in achannel-specific manner. For example, a web search channel may accept aURL such as “websearch://example+search+terms”. The protocol “websearch”can instruct the communication manager 2412 to pass the URL to the websearch channel, and the location “example+search+terms” can be used bythe web search channel to build a search query to be submitted to a websearch engine. As an example of another channel, a message in an inboxof an IMAP folder store may be accessed in a similar way via an IMAPchannel when passed a URL such as“imap://servername/user1/inbox/message1”.

In some cases, a simple URL will be passed to a function of thecommunicator API 2410 as implemented by a particular communicator, suchas a load function or a save function. In other cases, an action URL maybe passed to a communicator. Action URLs may be used in a communicatorwhen there is a need to provide additional functionality apart fromstandard data reading/editing/writing/appending operations provided bythe communicator API 2410. The action URL can providecommunicator-specific functions that use either the underlying datamodel, other resources, or the underlying data model along with otherresources. One example could be an action URL that causes thecommunicator to perform complicated processing of an underlying datamodel, thus relieving the programmer from having to do this processingin program code. Another example could be offering functionality basedon data or functions outside of the underlying data source. The formatof an action URL is similar to that of any other URL passed to thecommunicator API 2410: “channel_name://function(param1, param2, . . .param n),” where “channel_name” determines the communicator to handlethe action URL, “function” is used by the communicator to determine whatprocessing to perform, and “param1, param2, . . . param n” is a list ofparameters to be passed to the function. In one embodiment, a requestfor an action URL returns an XML document.

Three examples of data model documents, communicators, and data sourcesare shown in FIG. 24. One example is a data model document 2404 andcommunicator 2414 used for communicating with a web search service 2426,such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN Live Search, and the like. A XIOSapplication 2402 requests from the document manager 912 a web searchmodel document 2404, which abstracts the communication with the websearch service 2426. The document manager 912 uses the communicator API2410 to communicate with the web search communicator 2414 as the XIOSapplication 2402 interacts with the web search model document 2404. Inturn, the web search communicator 2414 translates requests submittedthrough the communicator API 2410 into a format understood by a SOAPinterface 2420 that exposes the functionality of the web search service2426. Thus, when a XIOS application 2402 requests a URL such as“websearch://example+search+terms” from the document manager 912, an XMLdocument such as web search model document 2404 is returned thatrepresents the search results.

Another example shown in FIG. 24 is an SQL model document 2406. As withthe web search model document 2404, the XIOS application 2402manipulates an SQL model document 2406. Changes to this document causethe document manager 912 to make calls through the communicator API 2410to an SQL communicator 2416. The SQL communicator 2416 translates thecalls from the communicator API 2410 into a format understood by an SQLweb service 2422. The SQL web service 2422 is a front end for an SQL API2432, which allows access to an SQL database 2428.

As yet another example shown in FIG. 24, XIOS applications 2402 mayrequest a document such as IMAP model document 2408. As a XIOSapplication 2402 manipulates the IMAP model document 2408, the documentmanager 912 communicates with an IMAP communicator 2418 through thecommunicator API 2410. The IMAP communicator 2418 translates requestsfrom the communicator API 2410 to a format understood by an IMAP webservice 2424. The IMAP web service 2424 is a front end for a standardIMAP interface 2434 on an IMAP server 2430.

Each communicator instance, such as web search communicator 2414, SQLcommunicator 2416, and IMAP communicator 2418, is hosted by thecommunication manager 2412 of the client-side component 2400. Thecommunication manager 2412 is responsible for receiving requests fromthe document manager 912 that contain URLs, and for instantiating thenecessary communicator to form a channel in response to each requests.For example, if the communication manager 2412 receives a request for aURL beginning with imap://, the communication manager 2412 willinstantiate an IMAP communicator 2418 (if one is not currentlyinstantiated) and pass the request to the IMAP communicator 2418.

As depicted in FIG. 24, each of the data sources—web service 2426, SQLdatabase 2428, and IMAP server 2430—is accessible through a web-basedfront end, such as SOAP interface 2420, SQL web service 2422, and IMAPweb service 2424. When the client-side component 2400 communicates onlywith data sources accessible through HTTP, the client-side component2400 receives the benefit of being able to reuse much existingcommunication functionality, such as functionality contained in standardweb browsers, proxy servers, firewalls, and the like. However, it mayalso be possible to create a communicator that would not require anHTTP-enabled data source as a back end. For example, with an appropriatecommunicator, the IMAP web service 2424 or the SQL web service 2422could be removed, and the IMAP communicator 2418 and the SQLcommunicator 2416 could then communicate directly with the IMAPinterface 2434 or the SQL API 2432, respectively.

XIOS File System—Server-Side Component

FIG. 25 illustrates an overview of one embodiment of the XML file systemserver-side component 2500. As in FIG. 24, the client-side component2400 comprises a data model, embodied in an XML-FS model document 2502,made available to XIOS applications 2402 by the document manager 912.The document manager 912 communicates through the communicator API 2410with a XIOS communicator 2504 hosted by the communication manager 2412as XIOS applications 2402 interact with the XML-FS model document 2502.The XIOS communicator 2504, in turn, communicates with the server-sidecomponent 2500. The server-side component 2500 comprises clientinterface components 2506 and data storage components 2514.

The client interface components 2506 are the primary components withwhich the XIOS communicator 2504 communicates. The XML web service 2510(along with its web-based HTTP front end 2508) and the transactioncoordinator 2522 are the primary ways the XIOS communicator 2504communicates with the server-side component 2500. The XML web service2510 exposes functionality within the XML file system such as filecreation, file retrieval, file deletion, file search, and the like. Thetransaction coordinator 2522, which will be discussed in more detailbelow, helps to coordinate changes to files in the data storage 2514when more than one client is currently accessing the same file, and actsas a caching mechanism. The message server 2512, which will also bediscussed in more detail below, is used to notify the client-sidecomponent 2400, via the XIOS communicator 2504, of changes in objects inthe XML file system 2500 to which the XIOS communicator 2504 hassubscribed.

As shown in the diagram, communication between the XIOS communicator2504 and the XML web service 2510 is bidirectional. In other words, theXIOS communicator 2504 both sends information to, and receivesinformation from, the XML web service 2510. In contrast, the messageserver 2512 primarily pushes information to the XIOS communicator 2504.

The data storage components 2514 comprise a file server 2516, an indexserver 2518, and a folder database 2520. In one embodiment, the XML filesystem stores file data in three separate parts. The raw data containedwithin the file is stored as a file on the file server 2516. Thefilename, author, modification date, access control list (ACL), andother common file information associated with each file is stored withinthe folder database 2520. The folder database 2520 also stores thefolder hierarchy within which the files are organized, including ACLsfor each folder and additional folder metadata such as related icons,folder rendering type (for example, indicating the folder containspictures, and should therefore be rendered with picture thumbnails), andthe like. The index server 2518 stores additional metadata used toidentify and locate files, such as by searching the metadata using afull-text search.

While each of these components has been depicted as a separate componenton a single server in FIG. 25, one skilled in the art will recognizethat one or more of these components may be hosted on separate physicalhardware. Alternatively, one or more of these components may be splitinto multiple components, be duplicated within a server-side component2500, or have their functionality combined into a single component. Forexample, the XML web service 2510, the message server 2512, thetransaction coordinator 2522, the index server 2518, the file server2516, and the folder database 2520 may all be hosted on the samephysical machine. As another example, the folder database 2520 may beseparated from the rest of the components as a stand-alone SQL-baseddata store, or the file server 2516 may be located on a specializedhigh-capacity file storage system. Also, the XML file system may includeonly one server-side component 2500, or may include many.

In one embodiment, the XIOS communicator 2504 may always communicatewith the same server-side component 2500. The server-side component 2500will then use information contained within the URL requested by the XIOScommunicator 2504 to determine the appropriate XML web service 2510,message server 2512, and so on to service the request. The server-sidecomponent 2500 contacted by the XIOS communicator 2504 may also forwardthe request to a more appropriate server-side component 2500 altogether.In this way, the client-side component 2400 is insulated from thecomplexity of any load balancing, redundancy, or scaling architectureimplemented by the server-side component 2500.

FIG. 26 illustrates one embodiment of some of the details of the contentof the message server 2512. The message server 2512 contains asubscription list for each client using the XML file system. Forexample, FIG. 26 illustrates two clients: client one 2606 and client two2608. Client one 2606 is associated with a client one subscription list2602, and client two 2608 is associated with a client two subscriptionlist 2604.

Each subscription list contains a list of objects stored by theserver-side components 2500 for which the client wishes to be notifiedwhen the object is updated. The client one subscription list 2602indicates that client one 2606 wishes to be notified of changes tofoo.doc (a file), bar.doc (also a file), changes to user 3's status, thegroup one folder list, as well as other objects and information storedby the server-side components 2500. The subscriptions to foo.doc andbar.doc will cause the message server 2512 to update client one 2606when either of these files are updated, deleted, renamed, opened byanother client, or changed in some other way. The entry concerning user3's status will cause client one 2606 to be updated when the status ofuser 3 changes, such as user 3 going online or offline, user 3indicating he is busy, user 3 entering an idle state, and the like. Theentry concerning the group one folder list will cause client one 2606 tobe updated when folders that belong to the group one are updated,deleted, have items added to them, or are changed in some other way. Theentries in the client two subscription list 2604 are similar to theentries in the client one subscription list 2602 and would behave in asimilar way, but would cause client two 2608 to be updated as opposed toclient one 2606. In one embodiment, notifications are sent by themessage server 2512 via long polling, but other suitable techniques forpushing information to clients could be used instead.

When a client such as client one 2606 initially connects to theserver-side component 2500, client one 2606 may, through the XIOScommunicator 2504, request to have an object added to a subscriptionlist. In one embodiment, the XIOS communicator 2504 adds the document toits internal subscription list, and in response, the document manager912 (or another sub-component of the client-side component 2400) issuesthe request to the XML web service 2510. The XIOS communicator 2504communicates with the XML web service 2510, which instructs the messageserver 2512 to add the object to a subscription list for client one2606. Since client one 2606 had not been connected before, the messageserver 2512 creates a new subscription list for client one, such asclient one subscription list 2602. This list will be identified by a key2610. The key 2610 comprises a unique identifier, which is preferablydifficult to guess. This key 2610 is then transmitted back to client one2606 via the XML web service 2510 and the XIOS communicator 2504 so thatclient one 2606 is aware of the key 2610. In one embodiment, the XML webservice 2510 and the message server 2512 simply work together togenerate the key 2610, which is then transmitted to client one 2606. Inthis embodiment, client one 2606 (as opposed to the XML web service2510) instructs the message server 2512 to add the object to thesubscription list for client one 2606.

As mentioned previously, a client such as client one 2606 will beauthenticated by the XML file system upon login to provide security. Inone embodiment, this authentication is not duplicated between themessage server 2512 and client one 2606. The difficult-to-guess natureof the key 2610 in this embodiment, in addition to the previousauthentication, should provide adequate security against third partieseavesdropping on the client one subscription list 2602. A furtheradvantage of using the key 2610 to provide security for clients of themessage server 2512, as opposed to a more resource intensiveauthentication technique, is that it reduces the load on the messageserver 2512.

FIG. 27 illustrates another aspect of one embodiment of the operation ofthe message server 2512. In this figure, the message server 2512 isdepicted with three subscription lists: client one subscription list2602, client two subscription list 2604, and client three subscriptionlist 2702. In the course of operation of the XML web service, thetransaction coordinator 2522 is notified when changes occur to monitoredobjects. The transaction coordinator 2522 then notifies the messageserver 2512 that the notifications should be sent to all clientssubscribed to that object.

One skilled in the art will recognize that, since the message server2512 contains a subscription list for each client using the XML webservice, and each subscription list contains an entry for each objectthat the associated client is listening to, the amount of data stored onthe message server 2512 and the number of notifications that must besent by the message server 2512 will grow very quickly with the numberof clients connected to the XML web service. One way to reduce theamount of work needed by the message server 2512 is through the use ofmessage chains 2704. A message chain 2704 is a linked list thatassociates each subscription list listening to a given object. Forexample, in FIG. 27, the message chain 2704 links each subscription liston the message server 2512 that is listening to the object bar.doc.Through the use of this message chain 2704, when the message server 2512is notified that there is a change to bar.doc, the message server 2512simply has to traverse the linked list of the message chain 2704 firstby notifying client one, then by notifying client two, then by notifyingclient three. This removes the need for the message server 2512 todetermine which of the multitude of subscription lists containreferences to bar.doc, thereby saving processing time and increasing theefficiency of the message server 2512. While only one message chain 2704is depicted in FIG. 27 for simplicity, it will be understood that theremay be one message chain associated with each object in the XML filesystem that is currently being monitored by a client.

XIOS File System—File Operations

As discussed above, the XML file system stores the informationrepresenting the hierarchy of folders stored in the system in a folderdatabase 2520. A XIOS application 2402 may interact with the folderhierarchy via a folders.xml file retrieved by the XIOS communicator 2504from the XML web service 2510.

FIGS. 28A-28D illustrate one embodiment of an exemplary method 2800 forretrieving a folders.xml file. From a start block 2802, the method 2800proceeds to block 2804, where a XIOS application 2402 creates a filerequest for a folders.xml file submits the file request to the documentmanager 912. In one embodiment, the request comprises a folderidentifier (“folder ID”) that both uniquely identifies a folder andprovides information usable by the server-side component 2500 toindicate the location of a folder database 2520 in which the folderinformation is stored. The folders.xml file may contain informationpertaining to the folder associated with the folder ID, and alsoinformation associated with subfolders within that folder. Thefolders.xml file may also contain additional metadata associated witheach folder, as described above. In one embodiment, the requestsubmitted by the XIOS application 2402 takes the form of a URL. Inanother embodiment, the XIOS application 2402 may simply request thefolders.xml file from the document manager 912, which will form a URLrepresenting the request.

In one embodiment, the document manager 912 may already have a cachedcopy of the folders.xml file, in which case the document manager 912will simply provide the cached copy of the document to the XIOSapplication 2402. However, the remainder of this description assumesthat no cached copy of the requested document exists within the documentmanager 912. The method 2800 continues to block 2806, where the documentmanager 912 obtains a XIOS communicator 2504 from the communicationmanager 2412 and passes the file request to the load function of theXIOS communicator 2504. The method 2800 then proceeds to block 2808,where the XIOS communicator 2504 transmits a request for the folders.xmlfile to the appropriate XML web service 2510 of the server-sidecomponent 2500, the request comprising the folder ID. Next, at block2810, the server-side component authenticates the user, and routes therequest to the XML web service 2510. The method 2800 then proceeds toblock 2812, where the XML web service 2510 determines a folder databasethat hosts the folder tree associated with the folder ID, based at leastin part on the content of the folder ID. The method 2800 then proceedsto a continuation terminal (“terminal A1”).

From terminal A1 (FIG. 28B), the method 2800 proceeds to block 2814,where the XML web service 2510 queries the appropriate folder database2520 to retrieve information associated with the requested folder. Thisretrieved information may include the folder access control list (ACL),and may also include additional folder metadata information. Next, themethod 2800 proceeds to a continuation terminal (“terminal B”) and thento block 2816, where the XML web service 2510 adds the folderinformation to the folders.xml file. In one embodiment, the folderinformation added to the folders.xml file does not include the folderACL. Instead, the folders.xml implicitly indicates that the requestinguser has at least read access to every folder in the folders.xml file.More detailed information concerning the ACLs of the folders may beobtained in this embodiment via a separate request. Examples of some ofthe advantages of this technique are that the size of the folders.xmlfile and the complexity of the processing performed by the server-sidecomponent 2500 are kept to a minimum.

At this point, the folders.xml file being constructed by the XML webservice 2510 contains information pertaining to only the folderidentified by the folder ID. A request for the folders.xml file for agiven folder will also return information pertaining to the subfoldersof the requested folder. Since folder information for multiplefolders—each of which might have different associated permissions (andtherefore different ACLs)—will be returned to the client in a singlefolders.xml file, it is important that only information about foldershaving matching ACLs is included in a given folders.xml file. To thatend, the method 2800 proceeds to block 2818, where the XML web service2510 queries the folder database 2520 to retrieve information associatedwith the immediate subfolders of the folder identified by the folder ID,including a folder ID and an ACL of each subfolder. Then, using theresults of that query, the method 2800 proceeds to a FOR loop, beginningwith block 2820, and a continuation terminal (“terminal C”) thatindicates the start of the FOR loop. From terminal C, the method 2800proceeds to block 2822, where the XML web service 2510 compares the ACLof the subfolder to the ACL of the requested folder. The method 2800then proceeds to another continuation terminal (“terminal A2”).

From terminal A2 (FIG. 28C), the method 2800 continues to a decisionblock 2824, where a test is performed to determine whether the ACL ofthe subfolder matches the ACL of the requested folder. If the answer tothe test at decision block 2824 is YES, the method 2800 returns toterminal B, adds the current subfolder to the folders.xml file at block2816, and the method 2800 recurses on any further subfolders of thecurrent subfolder. Otherwise, if the answer to the test at decisionblock 2824 is NO, the method 2800 proceeds to block 2826, where the XMLweb service 2510 adds an XLINK that references the subfolder to thefolders.xml file, as opposed to any further information concerning thesubfolder. The method 2800 then proceeds to decision block 2828, where atest is performed to determine whether there are any more subfolders.

The use of an XLINK provides the client with enough information torequest a new folders.xml file containing the subfolder having adifferent ACL without exposing information to the client that wouldrequire a separate permission check. This is important because, asdiscussed above, the folders.xml file contains an implicit assertionthat the client has at least read access to each folder contained withinit. If a subfolder has a different ACL from the requested folder (e.g.,if the subfolder is owned by a different user, if the subfolder isshared in a different group, etc.), this implicit assertion may not betrue for the subfolder. The use of an XLINK allows minimal informationabout the subfolder to be provided to the client while still maintainingthe truth of this implicit assertion.

If the answer to the test at decision block 2828 is YES, the method 2800proceeds to continuation terminal C, and the next subfolder isprocessed. Otherwise, if the answer to the test at decision block 2828is NO, the method 2800 proceeds to another continuation terminal(“terminal A3”).

From terminal A3 (FIG. 28D), the method 2800 proceeds to block 2830,where the XML web service 2510 caches a copy of the complete folders.xmlfile to expedite future requests for the same folder (assuming changesare not made to the folder hierarchy between client requests, in whichcase the cached folders.xml file would be regenerated). Next, at block2832, the XML web service 2510 returns the complete folders.xml file tothe XIOS communicator 2504. The method 2800 then proceeds to block 2834,where the XIOS communicator 2504 provides the folders.xml file to thedocument manager 912. Next, at block 2836, the document manager 912caches the folders.xml file, and provides the folders.xml file to theXIOS application 2402. The method 2800 then proceeds to a finish block2836 and terminates.

FIG. 28E illustrates one example of a folders.xml file 2840 produced byan embodiment of the above-described method 2800. For the purposes ofFIG. 28E, it is assumed that the XML file system 2500 stores a folderhierarchy, such as the folder hierarchy depicted in the tree component800 of FIG. 8A, and a user has requested a folders.xml file for thefolder “RESEARCH.” Also depicted in FIG. 28E is a set of line numbers2842, included for ease of discussion.

As shown in FIG. 28E, the method 2800 has created the folders.xml file2840 in response to the request. Lines 1-4 of the file 2840 containheader information used to identify an XML version and schema for theremainder of the document. The method 2800 created an entry for therequested folder “RESEARCH” (at line 6), and then enumerated thesubfolders of the requested folder to add any further folders with amatching ACL. In this case, the folders “PERSONAL,” “WORK,” and“LETTERS,” shown in FIG. 8A and at lines 7, 8, and 12 of the file 2840,respectively, were found to have matching ACLs. The method alsoproceeded to add any subfolders of those folders that also have matchingACLs. In this case, the folders “PERSONAL” and “LETTERS” did not haveany subfolders, but the folder “WORK” had two subfolders with matchingACLs, “BROWSERS” and “VIDEO ENCODING,” found at lines 9 and 10. For eachfolder, the method 2800 added limited metadata information to the file2840. In the embodiment illustrated here, the method 2800 added metadataincluding a “name”, an “id”, and a “type” for each folder, but in otherembodiments, either more or less metadata may be added. Further,although the “id” elements are shown as integer values for the sake ofsimplicity, the “id” values may contain more complex information, asdiscussed above, to indicate the folder database 2520 storing the folderinformation. Alternatively, simple values such as the integer values maybe used for the “id” elements, and a lookup may be performed todetermine the folder database 2520 storing the folder information.

The method 2800 also created an entry for the folder “EMAIL,” which doesnot have an ACL that matches the ACL of the “RESEARCH” folder. The entryfor the “EMAIL” folder, shown from lines 13-19, contains minimalinformation about the folder, only showing its “name” element. It alsocontains an XLINK that may be traversed by the user to generate a newfolders.xml file that contains the information for the “EMAIL” folder(as well as any subfolders having an ACL matching the “EMAIL” folderACL).

In one embodiment, the folders.xml file contains information concerningthe folder hierarchy, but not information about the individual fileswithin the folders. FIG. 29 illustrates one embodiment of a method 2900for retrieving a list of files in a given folder when the folders.xmlfile does not contain file list information. From a start block 2902,the method 2900 continues to block 2904, where a XIOS application 2402creates a file list request and submits the file list request to thedocument manager 912, the file list request comprising a folder ID of aspecified folder. As described above, the folder ID contains informationindicating a folder database 2520 that stores information about thecontents of the specified folder. The file list request may alsocomprise further options, such as filters for desired file types,sorting preferences, date range filters, and the like. Next, the method2900 continues to block 2906, where the document manager 912 obtains aXIOS communicator 2504 from the communication manager 2412, and passesthe file list request to the XIOS communicator 2504. Next, at block2908, the XIOS communicator 2504 transmits the query to the appropriateXML web service 2510 of the server-side component 2500. The method 2900then continues to block 2910, where the server-side component 2500authenticates the user and routes the request to the XML web service2510, which checks the permissions on the requested folder 2910. Tocheck the permissions on the requested folder, the XML web service 2510may query the folder database 2520 to retrieve the ACL for the givenparent folder, and determine whether the ACL grants access to theauthenticated user.

Once the user has been authenticated and the permissions have beenverified, the method 2900 proceeds to block 2912, where the XML webservice 2510 determines an indexing server 2518 corresponding to therequested folder ID, and transmits a query to the indexing server 2518.As discussed above, information contained within the folder ID may beused by the XML web service 2510 to determine the corresponding indexingserver 2518. Next, at block 2914, the indexing server 2518 queries anindex to retrieve a file list for the requested folder, and processesthe result with respect to the ACL of each file in the list. In oneembodiment, the index of the indexing server 2518 is a full-text indexof file information, and one of the indexed fields for each filecontains the folder ID of the parent folder. The processing of theresult with respect to the ACL of each file in the list ensures thatonly files for which the authenticated user has access are added to thefolder list. In one embodiment, this processing is omitted in order toconserve processing time, and instead the user permissions are enforcedwhen the user attempts to access one of the files.

Next, at block 2916, the indexing server 2518 formats the list of filesreturned by the index, along with limited file metadata retrieved fromthe index, as a feed in a suitable format (e.g., ATOM, RSS, or othersuitable format), and returns it to the client-side component 2400. Thelimited file metadata may include such items as the last modified date,the author, the file type, and the like. The method 2900 then continuesto an end block 2918 and terminates.

Since data is stored collaboratively in the XML file system and multipleclients may be updating a given parent folder or creating the same file,the simple creation of a file in the XML file system in some embodimentsmay include coordination between the file-creating client and aspects ofthe server-side component 2500. FIGS. 30A-30C illustrate one embodimentof a method 3000 for creating a file within the XML file system. From astart block 3002, the method 3000 proceeds to block 3004, where a XIOSapplication 2402 specifies a file name and a destination folder for thenew file, and initializes a raw file data content. Initializing the rawfile data content may create a new, empty file, or may insert existingcontent into the raw file data (such as when a user first saves contentwhich she has already started to create). Next, at block 3006, the XIOSapplication 2402 submits a file creation request to the document manager912, the file creation request comprising the file name, the destinationfolder ID, and the raw file data content. In one embodiment, at leastpart of this request is formatted as a URL. The method 3000 thenproceeds to block 3008, where the document manager 912 obtains a XIOScommunicator 2504 from the communication manager 2412, and passes thefile creation request to the XIOS communicator 2504. Next, at block3010, the XIOS communicator 2504 transmits a request to create a newfile to the XML web service 2510 of the server-side component 2500. Themethod 3000 then proceeds to block 3012, where the server-side component2500 authenticates the user, and routes the request to the XML webservice 2510.

Next, the method 3000 then proceeds to block 3014, where the XML webservice 2510 determines a folder database that hosts the destinationfolder, and checks that the user has permission to create the file inthe destination folder. As discussed above, the folder ID of thedestination folder contains information that allows the XML web service2510 to determine a folder database that contains information associatedwith the destination folder. As also discussed above, the XML webservice 2510 may ensure that the user has permission to create the fileby querying the folder database 2520 to retrieve the ACL for thedestination folder, and determining whether the ACL grants theappropriate rights to the authenticated user. The method 3000 thenproceeds to a continuation terminal (“terminal A1”).

From terminal A1 (FIG. 30B), the method 3000 proceeds to block 3016,where the XML web service 2510 checks if the specified destinationfolder is a special folder. In one embodiment, there are two types offolders in the XML file system: storage folders and special folders. Astorage folder is much like a folder in a conventional file system, inthat it is primarily used to store files and other folders. A specialfolder, in contrast, is used by the XML file system to abstract anotherform of communication. This allows a XIOS application 2402 to interactwith this other form of communication in the same way it would interactwith a file in storage, thus simplifying application development. Forexample, a special folder may be designated as an e-mail special folder,and creating a new file in the e-mail special folder would cause a pieceof e-mail to be sent. In one embodiment, there are two special foldersfor each user: an incoming special folder, or “inbox,” and an outgoingspecial folder, or “outbox.” In other embodiments, more or fewer specialfolders exist.

The method 3000 continues to a decision block 3018, where a test isperformed to determine whether the specified destination folder is aspecial folder. If the answer to the test at decision block 3018 is YES,the method 3000 proceeds to block 3019, where the request is transmittedto a server process associated with the special folder for furtherprocessing. One example of an embodiment of such processing is discussedbelow with relation to the method 3600 illustrated in FIG. 36, and theaccompanying text. The method 3000 then proceeds to a continuationterminal (“terminal B”).

Although FIG. 30B illustrates that a method such as method 3600 occursbefore the new file is created in the special folder, this need notnecessarily be the case. In one embodiment, the test performed atdecision block 3018 may instead be performed after the file has beencreated, such as after terminal B (FIG. 30C). In such an embodiment, aserver process that monitors the special folder would operate on thefile created in the special folder, as opposed to operating directly onthe request from the client. The server process could be notified of thecreation of the file by polling the contents of the special folder.Alternatively, the server process could be notified of the creation ofthe file by creating a subscription list associated with the process onthe message server, adding the special folder to the subscription list,and thereby receiving a notification from the message server about thecreation of the file, for example at block 3030 of the method 3000.

If the answer to the test at decision block 3018 is NO, the method 3000proceeds to block 3020, where a file server 2516 allocates space for rawfile data of the new file in a storage location associated with the fileserver, and stores the initial raw file data at that storage location.Next, at block 3022, a folder database 2520 creates an entry for the newfile in the folder database, the entry containing limited metadataassociated with the file, including the file name, date created, uniquefile ID, storage location, and the like. In one embodiment, a file mayhave more than one file stream associated with a single file ID. In thatcase, the file server 2516 allocates a separate space in the storagelocation for each stream, and the metadata stored in the folder database2520 associates the file ID with all of the storage locations. The XMLfile system exposes all of the streams associated with the file to theclient through the available metadata of the file.

The method 3000 then proceeds to block 3024, where the folder database2520 associates the new file with the specified destination folder. Theassociation created between the parent folder and the new file willallow the XML web service 2510 to query the folder database 2520 and theindex server 2518 using the folder ID to find the file when searchingfor the files contained within the folder. The method 3000 thencontinues to another continuation terminal (“terminal A2”).

From terminal A2, (FIG. 30C), the method 3000 continues to block 3026,where the XML web service 2510 transmits metadata for the new file to anindex server 2518. This metadata may be the same metadata stored by thefolder database, which is copied to the index server 2518 to facilitatefast full-text searching of the metadata. The metadata transmitted tothe index server 2518 may also include further information beyond thatstored in the folder database for which full-text indexing would bebeneficial, such as user- or application-specified properties, authorinformation, user comments, and the like. The metadata transmitted tothe index server 2518 may also include information extracted directlyfrom one or more file streams associated with the file.

Next, at block 3028, the XML web service 2510 transmits a notificationto the message server 2512 that the new file was created in thespecified destination folder. Alternatively, this notification may besent by the folder database 2520 or the index server 2518 upon detectingthe association of the new file with the parent folder. The method 3000then proceeds to block 3030, where the message server 2512 transmits anupdate notification to each client that has the specified destinationfolder in its subscription list. Next, at block 3032, the clienttransmits a request to the message server 2512 through the XML webservice 2510 to add the new file to the subscription list of the client,the request comprising the file ID. Next, at block 3034, the messageserver 2512 adds the new file to the subscription list of the client.Then, the method 3000 proceeds to terminal B, and then to an end block3036, where the method 3000 terminates.

FIGS. 31A-31E illustrate one embodiment of a method 3100 for openingexisting files within the XML file system. From a start block 3102, themethod 3100 continues to a set of method steps 3104, defined between acontinuation terminal (“terminal B”) and an exit terminal (“terminalC”). The set of method steps 3104 describes a method of opening anexisting file that is not being shared (in other words, a file that isnot currently opened by another client). From terminal B (FIG. 31B), themethod 3100 proceeds to block 3110, where a XIOS application 2402 on afirst client requests a file from the document manager 912, the requestcomprising a file ID. In one embodiment, the request is in the form of aURL. The request may comprise a file ID that is incorporated into anewly generated URL, or the first client may already have obtained a URLcapable of addressing the file, such as a file URL included within afile list. In one embodiment, the URL may not contain the file IDitself, but instead comprises information from which the file ID may bederived.

Next, at block 3112, the document manager 912 obtains a XIOScommunicator 2504 from the communication manager 2412 and passes thefile request to the XIOS communicator 2504. The method 3100 thenproceeds to block 3114, where the XIOS communicator 2504 transmits arequest for the file to an appropriate XML web service 2510 of theserver-side component 2506, the request comprising the file ID. Asdescribed above, the request may be in the form of a URL which comprisesthe file ID, or may instead comprise information from which the file IDmay be derived. Next, at block 3116, the server-side component 2506authenticates the user, and routes the request to the XML web service2510.

In one embodiment, the file ID or the file URL contained within therequest also contains information indicating a file server 2516 on whichthe file resides, to help the XML web service 2510 to determine anappropriate folder database 2520, file server 2516, or transactioncoordinator 2522 for obtaining the file. In another embodiment, therequest may also include the folder ID of the parent folder, and the XMLweb service 2510 may determine the appropriate data storage servers forobtaining the file based on information contained within in the folderID. The number of different servers that must be contacted for a singlefile request, and accordingly the amount of information provided in thefile ID or file URL, depends on how the database is partitioned, andthereby the amount of scalability provided by the particular embodiment.

Next, at block 3117, the XML web service 2510 checks that the user ofthe first client has permission to open the file, and submits therequest for the file to an appropriate transaction coordinator 2522. Inone embodiment, the XML web service 2510 checks the client permissionsby retrieving the ACL for the file from an appropriate folder database2520, and by checking if the ACL allows the authenticated user to accessthe file. Next, at block 3118, the transaction coordinator 2522instructs a message server 2512 to add the requested file to asubscription list of the first client. The method 3100 then proceeds toblock 3119, where the transaction coordinator 2522 determines if thefile is currently shared. The method 3100 then proceeds to acontinuation terminal (“terminal B1”).

From terminal B1 (FIG. 31C) the method 3100 proceeds to decision block3120, where a test is performed to determine whether the file iscurrently shared. If the answer to the test at decision block 3120 isYES, the method proceeds to a continuation terminal (“terminal D1”).Otherwise, if the answer to the test at decision block 3120 is NO, themethod 3100 proceeds to block 3122, where the transaction coordinator2522 queries an appropriate folder database 2520 to determine the fileserver 2516 storing the raw file data. Next, at block 3124, thetransaction coordinator 2522 retrieves the raw file data from theappropriate file server 2516. Then, at block 3126, the transactioncoordinator 2522 returns the raw file data to the XML web service 2510with the shared flag set to FALSE. Next, at block 3128, the XML webservice 2510 returns the raw file data to the XIOS communicator 2504 ofthe first client with a shared flag set to FALSE. The method 3100 thenproceeds to block 3129, where the XIOS communicator 2504 provides accessto the raw file data to the document manager 912, which in turn providesaccess to the raw file data to the XIOS application 2402. The method3100 then proceeds to another continuation terminal (“terminal C”).

From terminal C (FIG. 31A), the method 3100 proceeds to a set of methodsteps 3106 defined between terminal D and terminal E, which describes amethod of opening an existing file that is being shared by anotherclient. For the purposes of this description, this set of method steps3106 assumes that the set of method steps 3104 has already been executedby the first client, and hence the requested file has already beenopened by the first client.

From terminal D (FIG. 31D), the method 3100 proceeds to block 3130,where a XIOS application 2402 on a second client transmits a filerequest to the server-side component 2514 via the document manager 912and XIOS communicator 2504, the file request comprising the file ID. Asdiscussed above, the request may be in the form of a URL comprising thefile ID, or may be in the form of a URL comprising information fromwhich the file ID may be derived. Since the individual actions thatcomprise the actions at block 3130 were described in detail above, thosemore detailed descriptions have been omitted here for brevity. Next, atblock 3132, the server-side component 2514 authenticates the user of thesecond client, and routes the request to the XML web service 2510. Themethod 3100 then proceeds to block 3134, where the XML web service 2510checks that the user of the second client has permission to open thefile, and submits the request for the file to an appropriate transactioncoordinator 2522. The method 3100 then proceeds to block 3136, where thetransaction coordinator 2522 instructs the message server 2512 to addthe file to a subscription list of the second client. One skilled in theart will recognize the similarities between the method defined betweenblocks 3110-3116, and the corresponding blocks 3130-3136, as up to thispoint, there is little difference between the method for opening a filethat is shared and opening a file that is not shared.

Next, at block 3138, the transaction coordinator 2522 determines thatthe requested file is currently shared. At this point, the method foropening a file that is shared diverges from the method for opening afile that is not shared. The method 3100 proceeds to terminal D1, andthen to block 3140, where the transaction coordinator 2522 queries thefolder database 2520 to determine the file server 2516 storing the rawfile data. Next, at block 3142, the transaction coordinator 2522retrieves and caches a copy of the raw file data from the appropriatefile server 2516. Next, at block 3144, the transaction coordinator 2522instructs the message server 2512 to notify the first client that thefile is now shared. The method 3100 then proceeds to anothercontinuation terminal (“terminal D2”).

From terminal D2 (FIG. 31E), the method 3100 proceeds to block 3146,where the transaction coordinator 2522 transmits the raw file data tothe XML web service 2510 with the shared flag set to TRUE. This willnotify the XML web service 2510 and the XIOS communicator 2504 to treatthe raw file data differently than if the file was not shared. Next, atblock 3148, the XML web service 2510 returns the raw file data to thesecond client with the shared flag set to TRUE. The method 3100 thenproceeds to block 3150, where the message server 2512 notifies at leastthe first client that the file is now shared. The method 3100 thenproceeds to block 3152 where, in response to receiving the notificationthat the file is now shared, the first client transmits any previouslyuncommitted transactions to the XML web service 2510.

As discussed below, as changes are made to the file data model on thefirst client, the transaction manager 910 of the first client may gatherthese changes without immediately transmitting them to the XML webservice 2510 for storage. This is especially likely if the first clientwas operating in an offline mode, but it may also occur due to highnetwork latency, high processor load, and the like. When the firstclient receives the notification that the file is now shared, thetransaction manager 910 takes any uncommitted transactions and transmitsthem to the XML web service 2510.

At block 3154 of the method 3100, the XML web service 2510, afterreceiving these transactions, transmits the uncommitted transactions tothe transaction coordinator 2522, which commits the unsaved transactionsto the cached version of the raw file data that is stored by thetransaction coordinator 2522. These transactions will eventually becommitted to the raw file data on the file server 2516. In oneembodiment, the transactions will be committed when a client holding thefile executes a save command. In another embodiment, the changes will becommitted after a certain time period. In yet another embodiment, thechanges will be committed after all client users of the document havedisconnected. Next, at block 3156, the transaction coordinator 2522instructs the message server 2512 to notify all listening clients of thecommitted changes. The method 3100 then proceeds to block 3158, wherethe first client and the second client receive the notification of thecommitted changes from the message server. Next, the method 3100proceeds to terminal E and terminates.

Network Operating System Client Component Startup

FIG. 32A illustrates one embodiment of a method 3200 of starting aclient-side component 2400 of a network operating system. From a startblock 3202, the method 3200 proceeds to block 3204, where a boot loaderof the client-side component 2400 instantiates the system context object902 (FIG. 9) with its associated managers and starts a communicationchannel to an XML file system 2500. In some embodiments, the use of aboot loader is not required, since the XML virtual machine is alreadycontained in the client-side component 2400. For example, this would bethe case in embodiments where the client-side component 2400 isimplemented outside a Web browser as a stand-alone application, such aswithin a mobile device, on a set-top box or thin client component. Thiswould also be the case for embodiments implemented as a machineoperating system that does not require a host operating system forexecution. The network operating system can work by retrieving files,including the files that define the startup process, over any networkconnection, including but not limited to using the HTTP protocol overthe Internet. Even without the startup process described in method 3200,the network operating system will operate, but any initial configurationwill be driven by a user executing the configuration steps manually.

Unlike traditional operating systems, some embodiments of theclient-side component 2400 may be hosted within another program, such aswithin an existing Web browser. For those embodiments, particularsettings concerning the startup sequence, including which particular XMLfile system(s) 2500 to connect to or the communication channel to start,may be determined by a location URL navigated to using the host program,HTTP query parameters, HTTP cookies, or other configuration parametersassociated with the client (such as IP, location, machine, browser ID,etc.). For example, directing a Web browser to http://os1.icloud.com maycause the client-side component 2400 to connect to a first XML filesystem 2500, and directing a Web browser to http://os2.icloud.com maycause the client-side component 2400 to connect to a second XML filesystem 2500 hosted in a different location from the first XML filesystem 2500.

In one embodiment, the client-side component 2400 may start acommunication channel to a data source other than (or in addition to) anXML file system 2500 during the startup sequence, and may either connectto a remote data source or may access a local data source. For example,one file system may be a global XIOS file system provided through aservice provider data center. Another file system connected to duringthe startup sequence may be installed locally on an enterprise network.A third file system connected to during the startup sequence may giveaccess to a user's local hard drive. FIG. 32B illustrates severalexamples of data sources bound by the client-side component 2400 duringstartup as drives. For instance, a drive of the local machine has beenbound as “Local Drive.” Also, a folder in an XML file system 2500 hasbeen bound as “Shared Family Folder.” As yet another example, the rootfolder for a group has been bound as “Class of 1992 Reunion.”Importantly, while each of these data sources is stored in a differentplace and is accessed via differing techniques, the differences arehidden from XIOS applications 2402, which would see each data sourcesimply as an accessible drive. While these examples are not exhaustive,they are intended to show that the startup sequence may connect to oneor more than one file system. Once a user is authenticated the startupsequence may be continued with a user-specific startup sequence that mayinclude connections to additional file systems and the initialization ofadditional channels.

Another difference between embodiments of the network operating systemhosted within another program and a traditional operating system is thatoperations performed with respect to the host program may interrupt theexecution of the client-side component 2400. For example, after a userhas successfully completed the startup sequence and is logged in to thenetwork operating system, the host program may perform an operation toreload the client-side component 2400. In some embodiments, theclient-side component 2400 handles this situation by making thelogged-in state of the network operating system before reloadingavailable to the client-side component 2400 after reloading to restoreits state. To that end, at block 3206 (FIG. 32A), the client-sidecomponent 2400 checks whether a user is already logged in. The method3200 continues to a decision block 3208, where a test is performed todetermine whether the user is already logged in. If the answer to thetest at decision block 3208 is YES, the method 3200 proceeds to acontinuation terminal (“terminal A”), thereby skipping the login portionof the startup method.

If the answer to the test at decision block 3208 is NO, the method 3200proceeds to block 3210, where the client-side component 2400 opens alogin application associated with the communication channel. Theparticular login application to be launched may be determined by thecommunication channel, but typically, a login application will securelyrequest credentials from the user, such as a user name and a password.Other embodiments of the login procedure exist where the logininformation is requested before the boot loading has started, and thatlogin information is directly passed into the communication channel forauthentication without further user interaction. In embodiments wherethere is no boot loader, the client-side component 2400 may pass thelogin information directly into the communication channel forauthentication. Variations may also occur where the boot loader, afterloading directly, will by itself ask for the login information, and thenpass the information on to the communication channel without utilizing aseparate login application. Next, at block 3212, the communicationchannel processes the user credentials. The communication channel mayprocess the user credentials by transmitting them to an authenticationservice, or by processing them locally.

The method 3200 then proceeds to terminal A. From terminal A, the method3200 proceeds to block 3214, where the communication channel providesthe user's settings.xml file to the client-side component 2400, whichuses the settings.xml file to perform a user-specific startup sequenceand to mount all specified virtual drives. The communication channel mayobtain the settings.xml file from a remote data source, obtain thesettings.xml file from a local data source, or generate a defaultsettings.xml file based on communication channel-specific defaults. Thesettings.xml file contains a collection of user-specific settings forconfiguration of the network operating system. These settings mayinclude, but are not limited to: a user name, an email address, settingsfor various applications, a collection of virtual drives (communicationchannels) and associated root folder IDs to be mounted upon startup(including groups, as discussed below), a list of friends, and a startupsequence. The startup sequence contained in the settings.xml filespecifies what programs the client-side component 2400 should launchafter a successful login, including which desktop manager, console, orstart application to open, if any. Next, the method proceeds to a finishblock 3216 and terminates.

In some embodiments, the settings.xml file is more of a passivecontainer of metadata representing various items in the networkoperating system, and the startup application plays a more central rolein driving the startup sequence. For example, in one embodiment, thestartup application is executed, and then executes a second application,such as a desktop application, to display a desktop to the user.Although this sequence would be executed by the startup application inthis embodiment, the startup application may nevertheless determinewhich second application to execute by consulting the settings.xml file.

Network Operating System Groups and Friends

In the network operating system, groups are used to quickly andefficiently enable collaboration and file sharing between users. Unlikeother systems, the creation of a new group and the enabling ofcollaboration and file sharing in the network operating system is verylightweight. For example, in one embodiment, a user need simplyright-click to create a new group, which will automatically create acommon storage folder and allow members of the group to exchangemessages, create a new identity to interact with other members of thegroup, and collaborate with one another in real time.

A group, upon creation, stores a collection of group information. Thisgroup information includes a root folder ID, which acts as a referenceto a storage location in an XML file system 2500, as described above.The folders and files located at this storage location will beaccessible only to members of the group. As described above, uponstarting the client-side component 2400, a settings.xml file is obtainedfor the logged-in user. This settings.xml file contains a collection ofreferences to the groups of which the user is a member. Those referencescan then be used by the client-side component 2400 to mount the group asif it was any other storage location or file system by providing areference to the desired group to the communication manager 2412 inorder to launch the appropriate communicator and communication channel.

FIG. 33 illustrates one embodiment of a method 3300 for mounting anetwork operating system group. From a start block 3302, the method 3300proceeds to block 3304, where the client-side component 2400 starts acommunication channel for the group. Next, at block 3306, thecommunication channel processes user credentials associated with a user.The communication channel may prompt the user for any additionalcredentials specific to the group, such as a membership name andpassword, or it may reuse the user login credentials for an easy singlesign-on. Assuming the communication channel was able to verify the usercredentials, the method 3300 then proceeds to block 3308, where thecommunication channel obtains the group folders.xml file using a rootfolder ID obtained from a user settings.xml file. Next, at block 3310,the client-side component 2400 adds a reference to the group folders.xmlfile to an existing folders.xml file on the client. (The creation of theexisting folders.xml file is discussed in further detail above inrelation to FIGS. 28A-28D, and at least one folders.xml file is createdvia an embodiment of that process, or another process, during startup.)This reference may represent a virtual channel to the communicationmanager XML document, #CommunicationManager, which contains a list ofall open communication channels on the client. Next, at block 3312, thecommunication channel obtains an autostart.xml file for the group, ifone exists, and the client-side component 2400 executes the instructionsor applications specified in the autostart.xml file. This autostart.xmlfile allows a group administrator to specify common programs that willalways be executed by a group member upon logging in to the group, suchas auditing programs, welcome screens, common desktop configurations, acommunity representing the group, and the like. Groups may also specifyalternative startup sequences that users may choose to have as theiruser startup sequence upon login to the system. The method 3300 thenproceeds to a finish block 3314 and terminates.

In some embodiments, the method 3300 may also be used to mount filestorage locations, as file storage locations have most of the samefeatures of groups. File storage locations lack the concept of havingassociations that are members of the file storage location (as describedabove for groups), but the process for mounting the file storagelocation and accessing the files within it are quite similar. Filestorage locations may even include an autostart.xml file, as describedabove.

Either group functionality or file storage locations may also be used toimplement communities. A file storage location could be used forcreating communities, with no specific membership required. In otherwords, all users would automatically be members of the community. Groupfunctionality, on the other hand, could be used to createmembership-only communities.

The group information described above may also include a collection ofmemberships. A membership is an association between a user and a group,and represents the fact that the user is a member of the group. Eachmembership may have an associated name, which will be shown to othermembers of the group, thus creating a new identity for the user wheninteracting within the group. Since the membership names may be createdby a user when joining a group, users may be able to join groups withwidely varying subject matter while keeping their privacy. For example,a group named “Group One” might have a collection of membershipsindicating that a user with the username “Alice” and a user with theusername “Bob” are both members of Group One. The first membership,indicating that Alice is a member of Group One, may be the same orsimilar to Alice's username, such as “AliceGroupOne.” The secondmembership, indicating that Bob is a member of Group One, may bedifferent from Bob's username, such as “AnonymousGroupMember.” WhenAlice searches for other group members, she is given access to the listof membership names, but not the associated user names. Hence, she willsee that “AnonymousGroupMember” is a member of the group, but she willnot know that “AnonymousGroupMember” is actually associated with “Bob.”Alternatively, members in a group may choose to make the associated username public, in which case, Alice would be able to tell that“AnonymousGroupMember” is associated with “Bob.”

The messaging services are capable of handling multiple identities ofusers in its inter-user communication. This is also true for the friendshandling of the system, in that one user can have the same friend in hisfriends list as two different entries, without knowing that it isactually the same person. The user would also receive different instantmessages from the two different entries without knowing that they areboth sent by the same person.

Transitioning Between Online and Offline States

In some embodiments of the network operating system, the client-sidecomponent 2400 is capable of working in both a normal, online state, andin an offline state wherein the client-side component 2400 does not haveaccess to any server-side resources. One advantage of providing thisfunctionality in the client-side component 2400 is that it helps theclient-side component 2400 seamlessly support a single applicationoperating in both online and offline modes while minimizing the amountof work required of the application developer to support both modes.

FIG. 34 illustrates one embodiment of a method 3400 for transitioningthe client-side component 2400 of a first client from an online state toan offline state. This method 3400 assumes that the client-sidecomponent 2400 of a first client has previously started up and connectedto an XML file system 2500 via a method such as method 3200. From astart block 3402, the method 3400 proceeds to block 3404, where theclient-side component 2400 of the first client sets a status of thefirst client to an offline state by sending a notification to the XMLweb service 2510 of the XML file system 2500. This status can then bechecked by other clients using the same XML web services to determinethat the first client is offline. Next, at block 3406, the XML webservice 2510 instructs the message server 2512 to send a notification toall other clients subscribed to the status of the first client that thefirst client is offline. Typically, the other clients connected to theXML file system 2500 that are associated with the same group as thefirst client will have added the first client to their subscription liston the message server 2512. The notifications are sent out by themessage server 2512 in essentially the same way as notificationsconcerning file updates, which are described in more detail above.

In order for the client-side component 2400 and the applicationsexecuted by the client component 2400 to continue to function withouthaving access to the XML file system 2500, the client-side component2400 must cache any necessary resources from the XML file system 2500 onthe first client. To this end, the method 3400 proceeds to block 3408,where the application manager 904 of the first client downloads alloutstanding, not already downloaded resources indicated in anapplication package associated with each instance currently beingexecuted by the client-side component 2400. An application developer mayindicate in the application package which resources should be cached bythe client-side component 2400 to enable offline use of the application.Alternatively, the client-side component 2400 may automaticallydetermine what resources should be cached by analyzing the referencesused by components of the application package.

In some embodiments, the application manager 904 may perform additional,optional steps for determining what resources should be cached on thefirst client. For example, the method 3400 may proceed to block 3410,where the application manager 904 of the first client downloads anyresources dynamically loaded by each instance. These resources would notbe referenced by the application package associated with the instance,but would instead be determined by the instance while executing. Themethod 3400 may then proceed to block 3412, where the applicationmanager 904 of the first client downloads resources associated with eachopen view file. As with the dynamically loaded resources, each open viewfile may be associated with resources that are not referenced by theapplication package. The method 3400 may also proceed to block 3414,where the application manager 904 similarly downloads resourcesassociated with each process. One skilled in the art will recognize thatsince blocks 3410-3414 are optional, one, more than one, or none of theblocks may be executed in embodiments of the method 3400.

After resources are downloaded at block 3408 and zero or more of blocks3410-3414, the method 3400 then proceeds to block 3416, where theclient-side component 2400 of the first client sets a system flag thatindicates the first client is offline. This system flag may be used tochange the behavior of both the client-side component 2400 and theapplications executed on the first client. For example, in oneembodiment, the method 3400 continues to block 3418, where theclient-side component 2400 of the first client queues subsequent fileoperations, and each channel of the first client caches subsequenttransactions describing modifications to files, instead of immediatelytransmitting file operations and transactions to the XML file system2500. Since the client-side component 2400 queues file operations andcaches transactions while offline, it can appear to a user of thenetwork operating system that no change has taken place when the firstclient goes offline.

Applications executed by the client-side component 2400 may also changetheir behavior based on the system flag, such as by disablingfunctionality that requires network connectivity. The client-sidecomponent 2400 itself may change its behavior further, such as bydisplaying an error message if a user of the first client tries toperform an action that requires network connectivity. The method 3400then proceeds to a finish block 3420 and terminates.

FIG. 35 illustrates one embodiment of a method 3500 of coming backonline when a first client has already executed a method, such as method3400, and has been operating in an offline state. From a start block3502, the method 3500 proceeds to block 3504, where the first clientgoes online, and the client-side component 2400 of the first clientsends a notification of an online state to the XML web service 2510. Thefirst client may go online by establishing or re-establishing aconnection to one of, but not limited to, a local-area network, awireless network, a dial-up network, and the like. Alternatively, thefirst client may go online when a user indicates a desire to go online,when the network connection has already been established. Next, at block3506, the XML web service 2510 instructs the message server 2512 to senda notification to all clients subscribed to the status of the firstclient that the first client is online.

The method 3500 then proceeds to block 3508, where the transactionmanager 910 of the first client downloads any changes to documentscached on the first client from the XML web service 2510. In oneembodiment, these downloaded changes are changes made to the documentsin the XML file system 2500 by other clients while the first client wasoffline. Next, at block 3510, the transaction manager 910 of the firstclient resolves any conflicts between the cached documents and thedownloaded changes. In one embodiment, the transaction manager 910merely detects that a conflict exists, and prompts the user to manuallyresolve the conflict (by creating a new file to contain the cachedchanges, to cancel the cached changes in favor of the downloadedchanges, etc.). In another embodiment, the transaction manager 910executes an algorithm that decides which changes should be retained andwhich should be discarded.

Next, at block 3512, the transaction manager 910 of the first clienttransmits any queued file operations to the XML web service 2510. Forexample, if the user of the first client attempted to create, delete, orrename any files in the XML file system 2500 while offline, the fileoperations will be transmitted to the XML file system 2500 at thispoint. In one embodiment, the XML file system 2500 will detect anyconflicts with changes made by other users (such as an attempt to renamea file that was previously deleted, etc.) and respond appropriately.

The method 3500 then proceeds to block 3514, where the client-sidecomponent 2400 of the first client contacts the message server 2512,through the XML web service 2510, to re-add any monitored objects to thesubscription list of the first client. Next, at block 3516, theclient-side component 2400 of the first client sets a system flag thatindicates the first client is online. In one embodiment, setting thissystem flag returns the client-side component 2400 and the applicationsto their normal, network-connected state of operation. The method 3500then proceeds to a finish block 3518 and terminates. At this point, theXML file system of the first client is then synchronized to theserver-side component 2500 of the network operating system and isonline.

XML File System Special Folders

As discussed above, certain folders in the XML file system 2500 may bedesignated as special folders. In one embodiment, an entry for a specialfolder is stored in the folder database 2520 in the same way as an entryfor a regular folder, but with a flag set to indicate that the folder isa special folder. In one embodiment, the entry in the folder database2520 for the special folder also contains an indication of one of manyserver process that handles requests to create files in the specialfolder. In another embodiment, one server process handles all requeststo create files in the special folder, and determines how to handle thefile based on the content of the file, such as a file type of the file.

These special folders, instead of providing file storage, may serve asan abstraction for some other data handling routine, such asasynchronous messaging between users. One example of such asynchronousmessaging would be the use of an outbox folder for receiving andhandling outgoing messages intended for other users. The use of specialfolders for inter-user communication provides many advantages. Forexample, it simplifies client application development. A XIOSapplication 2402 may utilize the messaging protocol associated with thespecial folder by simply using familiar file creation routines, and neednot struggle with the underlying details of the communication protocol.As another example, the use of special folders for inter-usercommunication allows a XIOS application 2402 to leverage the groupfunctionality included in the XML file system 2500, as described above.Hence, a XIOS application 2402 using special folders for messaging doesnot need to add extra code for implementing security, group membership,friend lists, addressing, anonymity, or the like, as it may simply relyon the underlying functionality of the XML file system 2500 for suchfeatures.

FIG. 36 illustrates one embodiment of a method 3600 of handling arequest to create a new file in an outbox special folder. While such arequest would look to a XIOS application 2402 executing on a client asif it were a request to create a file, the server will treat the requestas a request to send a message to a second user. From a start block3602, the method 3600 proceeds to block 3604, where a server processassociated with an outbox folder of a first user receives a request tocreate a new file in the outbox special folder. Next, at block 3606, theserver process extracts an address of an intended recipient from therequest. The method 3600 then proceeds to block 3608, where the serverprocess identifies a second user associated with the address of theintended recipient.

The group and friend list functionality of the XML file system 2500described above allows multiple different types of addressing toidentify the second user. For example, the first user may address themessage directly to a user name of the second user. As another example,the first user may address the message to a membership name that isassociated with the second user. In this case, the anonymity of thesecond user would be protected, but the first user would still be ableto address messages to the second user. As yet another example, thefirst user may address the message to an address stored in the metadataassociated with the second user, such as a phone number. The serverprocess will determine which type of addressing has been used, and willidentify the second user accordingly.

Next, at block 3610, the server process determines an inbox folder ID ofthe second user. In one embodiment, this simply involves searching thefolder database 2520 for an inbox folder associated with the seconduser. The method 3600 then proceeds to block 3612, where, using theinbox folder ID, the server process creates a new file in an inboxfolder of the second user, the new file containing the data included inthe request. In embodiments where the file has been created in thespecial folder (as opposed to the server process directly handling thefile creation request), the server process simply moves the new filefrom the outbox folder of the first user to the inbox folder of thesecond user. Next, the method 3600 proceeds to an end block 3614 andterminates.

Example Application Chat

As outlined above, one advantage of the network operating system is thatthe features embedded in the network operating system make it possibleto rapidly develop reusable, scaleable, cross-platform, collaborationcomponents that contain rich security and anonymity functionality. Oneembodiment of an exemplary application that takes advantage of many ofthese features is a chat application, described below.

FIG. 37 illustrates, at a high level, one embodiment of a chatapplication 3700 and its corresponding shared data file 3710. Instead ofdevising and coding new communication protocols and authenticationschemes, the chat application 3700 performs communication betweenparticipants in a chat conversation through the use of a shared datafile 3710 residing in the XML file system 2500. The interface of thechat application 3700 comprises four primary components: a host windowcomponent 3712, a text display component 3702, a text entry component3704, and a button component 3706. Upon the start of a chatconversation, the text display component 3702 is bound to the shareddata file 3710 via a binding 3708, such that changes made to the shareddata file 3710 by any participant in the chat conversation will bereflected in the text display component 3710 (this text is omitted fromFIG. 37 for clarity).

FIG. 38 illustrates, at a high level, that the text display component3702 and the button component 3706 of one embodiment of a chatapplication 3700 are also bound to the shared data file 3710. When auser inputs text into the text entry component 3704 and clicks thebutton component 3706, the change is made in the shared data file 3710.This change will then be propagated to all components bound to theshared data file 3710, including text display component 3702.

FIG. 39 illustrates, at a high level, the updating of the shared datafile 3710 in a chat conversation between a chat application of a firstuser 3902 and a chat application of a second user 3904. In this figure,the text display component 3702 of the chat application of the firstuser 3902 and the text display component 3702 of the chat application ofthe second user 3904 are bound to the shared data file 3710, andtherefore display the contents of the shared data file 3710. The firstuser has input text into the text input component 3704, and has clickedthe button component 3706. The button component 3706 is associated witha trigger which, when the button component is clicked, causes steps toexecute that read the text from the text entry component 3704, appendthe text 3906 to the shared data file 3710, and clear the text from thetext entry component 3704.

This procedure for updating the shared data file 3710 helps to show atleast one advantage of the network operating system, in that a developermust merely associate the four components described above, and createthe rule bound to the text entry component, to enable thisfunctionality. Behind the scenes, the network operating system willhandle numerous details of updating the shared data file 3710. Forexample, in one embodiment, a cached copy of the shared data file 3710is stored in the client-side cache maintained by the document manager912. A corresponding URL object receives the request to update theshared data file 3710, which causes the transaction manager 910 tocreate a transaction representing the changes. The transaction manager910 propagates the transaction to remote listeners by causing thetransaction to be submitted to the XML web service 2510 via the XIOScommunicator 2504 and the XIOS channel. The XML web service 2510 notesthat the file is shared, and forwards the submitted transaction to thetransaction coordinator 2522. The transaction coordinator 2522 thencommits the transaction, updating the shared data file 3710 within theXML file system 2500.

FIG. 40 illustrates, at a high level, the transmission of the chatmessages via propagation of changes to the shared data file 3710 in oneembodiment of the chat application 3700. As described above, the textdisplay component 3702 of both the chat application of the first client3902 and the chat application of the second client 3904 are bound to theshared data file 3710. Hence, when the XML file system 2500 updates theshared data file 3710, each of the bound components is notified of thechanges and is updated accordingly.

Advantageously, this allows the developer to have UI components thatautomatically, through data update event propagation, always display thecorrect information synchronized with the shared data file 3710, andthereby complete the chat communication without writing any code, butinstead by simply binding the component to the shared data file 3710. Aswith the update of the shared data file 3710, the network operatingsystem handles numerous details of this transaction. For example, in oneembodiment, when the transaction coordinator 2522 commits thetransaction, it instructs the message server 2512 to notify each clientthat is subscribed to changes in the shared data file 3710 that theshared data file 3710 has been updated. The message server 2512 sendsthose notifications to each client, which either extracts the updatedinformation from the notification or contacts the XML file system 2500to obtain the latest version of the file. In this regard, thetransaction manager 910 of the first client will recognize that thechanges were submitted by the first client, and will not repetitivelyupdate its cached version of the shared data file 3710. The transactionmanager 910 of other clients will cause the changes to be incorporatedinto their respective cached versions of the shared data file 3710. Asoccurs with other data updates, any listening components will then benotified that the file has been updated, including the text displaycomponents 3702 of the chat application of the first client 3902 and thechat application of the second client 3904. The text display components3702 will then automatically be updated accordingly with the addedcontent 3906.

FIG. 41 illustrates an additional feature enabled by using a shared datafile 3710 for collaborative communication between clients. That is, asupdates to a given shared data file 3710 are propagated to any number ofclients subscribing to the shared data file 3710, no extra work isrequired to enable collaborative communication between more than twoparticipants. As illustrated in FIG. 41, the conversation between thefirst client 3902 and the second client 3904 can be joined by any numberof other clients, such as a third client 4102 and a fourth client 4104,without any further design changes. Each client will bind to the shareddata file 3710 and receive updates as described above.

The addition of contacts to a given user's chat friend list and theestablishing of individual chat sessions may also illustrate manyfeatures contained within the network operating system. In oneembodiment, a first user may only send or receive chat messages from asecond user who is a member of a friend list of the first user and whohas consented to chat communication with the first user. The friend listof the first user may be stored in a document in the XML file system2500, or may be stored and transmitted as part of the settings.xml file.To add a second user to the friend list, the first user must firstsearch for the user. In one embodiment, to preserve anonymity of userswhen belonging to a group, the first user will only be able to searchmembership names, each of which is associated with a user and a group towhich the first user belongs. In one embodiment, the first user willalso be able to search a global group, in which there is an indicationof the actual name of the user, but no connection to names found ingroups.

In either case, the search will return to the first user an addressassociated with the second user. The first user will then send a requestto the address of the second user to add the second user to the firstuser's friend list. In one embodiment, this is done using a methodsimilar to the method 3600 described above, wherein the first usercreates a file in the first user's outbox folder that constitutes thefriend list request, which is then routed and transferred to the seconduser's inbox folder by a server process. On the client of the seconduser, the request is retrieved from the inbox of the second user, and adialog is displayed asking the second user whether or not she wishes toallow the first user to add her to his friend list. When the second userresponds, a message is sent back to the first user in similar fashion tocomplete the addition of the second user to the friend list of the firstuser, and the first user will then be able to start chat conversationswith the second user.

For a first user to start a chat session with a second user, a similarprocess occurs. The chat application of the first user creates a shareddata file 3710, binds its text display component 3702 to the shared datafile 3710, and sends a request to the address of the second user tobegin a chat session. The request is delivered as described above. Ifthe second user accepts the request, a notification is sent to the chatapplication of the first user, which then sends the document ID of theshared data file 3710 to the chat application of the second user. Thechat application of the second user binds its text display component3702 to the shared data file 3710, and the chat conversation may proceedas described above.

Although these features are described with relation to chat, one skilledin the art will recognize that other forms of server-mediatedcommunication, such as message boards, email, and the like, could beimplemented utilizing shared data files. Also, shared data files couldbe used to coordinate other forms of communication that do not require aserver for mediation. For example, a first user and a second user coulduse a shared data file to negotiate bandwidth settings, encryptionsettings, and the like for peer-to-peer communication, such as VOIP orvideo conferencing.

Further, although the description of chat above assumes that the chatapplication is handling all messages that arrive in the inbox folder forthe sake of simplicity, it is possible that an additional component onthe client manages incoming messages. In one embodiment, a component onthe client analyzes each message that appears in the inbox folder, anddetermines an appropriate application for handling the message. Thecomponent then launches the application and passes the message to theapplication for further processing. In this way, incoming chat requestsor buddy list requests could be handled without having the chatapplication already running.

FIG. 42 illustrates another advantage of the use of reusable componentsin creating XIOS applications. The figure illustrates one embodiment ofthe network operating system hosted within a web browser, and may alsobe representative of how the network operating system may look in otherembodiments, such as a stand-alone application or a machine operatingsystem implementation of the client-side component 2400. Each of theboxes within the web browser represents a XIOS application 2402 createdwith reusable components, such as an email component, a clock component,a web search component, a group message component, and a weather reportcomponent. The box in the lower right shows the reuse of the chatapplication components within this web browser, as opposed to merelywithin a stand-alone chat application. The use of reusable componentsallows rapid development of such composite applications, as thecomponents need not be rewritten to work within a different context.Another advantage of being able to create composite applications is thatunderlying data that feed the applications from data models may bemerged from multiple disparate sources, and hence enable applications towork from a composite of a multitude of data sources.

Example Application Reunion

FIG. 43 illustrates an example collaboration application easily createdusing embodiments of the system. The Class of 1992 Reunion applicationis one example of functionality that could be presented to members of agroup. As described above with respect to FIG. 42, FIG. 43 illustrates acollection of components that refer to multiple data sources. What isillustrated by the Class of 1992 Reunion application is a collection ofcomponents that could be launched as part of an autostart.xml fileloaded when binding a group folder. As shown above in FIG. 32B, theClass of 1992 Reunion group folder may be bound by a client as a datasource, in which case it would be displayed as a drive within the userinterface. When a user thereafter opens that data source (or when theuser first binds the data source), an autostart.xml document associatedwith the group folder will cause the collection of components, such asthe Schedule of Events, the Map to Reunion Events, the Countdown toReunion, etc., to be displayed.

Along with the automatic display of these components, the groupfunctionality will also provide security. For example, only members ofthe group will be able to view entries in the Photo Album, which maysimply be a view of a folder stored within the group folder hierarchy.The group functionality will also provide easy collaboration with othermembers of the group, as shown in the Chat component of FIG. 43, whichshows other online members of the group without first requiring the userto add the other group members to a friend list.

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A message server for providing clients notifications concerningsubscribed objects, the message server comprising: a processor; acomputer-readable storage medium having stored thereon: at least onesubscription list associated with a client; and at least one messagechain associated with a subscribed object, the at least one messagechain comprising a reference to an object comprising a set of referencesto subscription lists containing the object; and a computer-readablestorage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereonthat, when executed by the processor, cause the message server toperform a method for providing clients notifications concerningsubscribed objects, the method comprising: receiving a notification thata subscribed object has been updated; locating a message chainassociated with the subscribed object; and sending a notification to theclient associated with each subscription list in the set of referencesto subscription lists in the message chain.